Feel What You Know
by impossibleorimprobable
Summary: They killed her. They killed Mouri Ran. High school detective Edogawa Conan grew up cold, ruthless, and brilliant as ever. With his help, police took down the biggest crime syndicate in Japan. In the ashes, they found a child that bore too much resemblance to a girl that should have died ten years ago. The truth must come out. But at what cost? [ShinRan, T for violence/language]
1. Prologue

**A/N: oh god here I go. MORE ANGST, more commitment, more ShinRan :P**

 **I think I got addicted to angst. We always knew this day would come. Don't worry folks, though I'm not going to be promising a Happily Ever After yet (because I have no idea what I'm doing or when I'm doing it), I'm usually too soft to end things to terribly. So this shouldn't be TOO bad, all around. It'll hurt a little one the way, but it'll be worth it~**

* * *

It was raining at _her_ funeral.

Ten years after the fact, Haibara Ai remembered.

Half way up the hill was where she was buried, in the family plot. The raindrops descended heavily upon wildflowers in full bloom, and the petals scattered among the wet grass.

Huddled under black umbrellas, she had watched as the wooden box was lowered to the ground. Genta-kun blew his nose loudly into a handkerchief, and Ayumi-chan cried into Mitsuhiko-kun's shoulder.

They didn't know that they were crying over an empty coffin. To them, their Nee-chan died a hero. To them, she died brave, died fighting, died protecting. To them, that was enough.

They didn't know how she had been taken and who she had been taken by. They didn't know that the Black Organization didn't leave bodies behind. They didn't know the things Haibara knew.

None of them knew _why_.

Death was not comforting, nor was it meant to be. Death simply was, and funerals were for the living. Graves were for the living. They said nothing about the dead, meant nothing to the dead, because the dead no longer had use for such things. Haibara knew, though the children didn't. She lent them a shoulder anyway.

She remembered the black umbrellas disappearing, one by one. The children left with their parents. Ran's friends followed. Mouri Kogoro left, leaning heavily against his wife, eyes glazed over and half senseless, whether from the rain or the alcohol or the grief. Suzuki Sonoko stayed longer than that.

Agasa-hakase had taken her home, where she'd finally broken, ripped apart by guilt because she could count on one hand the people she cared about and she'd just let another one die, let another one be ripped away from this world because of her, because of the drug she created, because of the fight she brought out into the light.

(It was stupid. It shouldn't have happened. It was a _mistake._ If the FBI hadn't chosen to move that night, that fateful night ten years ago, if the strike hadn't failed, if _they_ hadn't found out about Kir and Akai, if Haibara hadn't let Ran out of her sight for even a single moment-)

(A selfish part of her whispered traitorously that it was Conan's fault. If Kudou Shinichi had been a danger to everyone around him because he'd stuck his nose somewhere it didn't belong, what made him think Sleeping Kogoro wouldn't cause the same?)

Haibara re-lived Mouri Ran's last moments in detail, just as she had Akemi's. The last words she would ever say tumbling from her lips, the last smile she'd ever give, the last time she would ever run, bravery in every step. Haibara saw vividly in her mind the way Mouri Ran left the house that day, saw vividly the face that turned, the hand that waved in the air, saw vividly the last time she had been _alive._

(" _Goodbye."_ )

(She did because it was easier to remember it like this-easier to see the last of the warmth in Ran's eyes, than to picture the cruel grin on Gin's face when he'd announced, with cold triumph, that she was dead).

She remembered that Edogawa Conan-no, then he was still Kudou Shinichi-remained the entire night, staring at nothing in the dark-and did the same at the funeral.

Haibara didn't believe in afterlife. She didn't believe in heaven or hell or purgatory, didn't believe in ghosts, didn't believe souls could be stuck between two worlds. As a scientist, death was simply a biological state. If asked to be more poetic, more comforting, she might say that it was simply sleep, from which a person never awoke. An absolute certainty, one scientific process every living thing on this earth had to experience. In this sense she was like Kudou-kun. They were logical minds, ones that thrived on evidence and fact, not sentiments.

And yet.

Mouri Ran was dead, and when morning came, the one that became a ghost was Kudou Shinichi. He died with her, and he left behind an empty shell of a boy, a walking, breathing corpse with his eyes and his voice and his sharp intellect, but not his heart, never his heart, because it had followed the woman he loved to her grave.

It wasn't logical. But nothing concerning _her_ had ever been logical, for him.

And so once a year she met Kudou Shinichi at _that_ place. Once a year they came to mourn the woman they both _loved_ , albeit in different ways.

Yes. The difference between them was slight, but it was there.

After a decade, Haibara was able to believe that Mouri Ran would be at peace.

They'd always disagreed on that account.

He was already there when Agasa-hakase dropped her off. The sun had barely risen over the hill. A bouquet of red roses rested against the slab of gray stone.

She purposefully made noise to alert him to her presence as she came up the steps, and did not look at him when she put down her own offering, whether out of respect for his grief or her own, it didn't matter.

A ceramic pot with a singular orchid was what Haibara had brought each year, for the second sister she'd found and lost. She had the feeling Ran would appreciate something growing. Orchids were delicate things that did not survive the harsh conditions of wilderness. Every year she had to collect the scattered remains of the plant from the previous year.

How ironic, and how fitting, that the flower for which the girl was named would wither at her grave.

Kudou-kun inclined his head toward her ever so slightly as she stepped back. "Haibara."

She said nothing. She never said anything here, simply watched, watched his eyes spark, watched him come alive, if only for a moment, if only to plunge headfirst into pain, into memories that a seventeen year old body should not have. Hands in his pockets, head bowed, staring at some unknowable thing in the air. His glasses are tucked into a pocket, and had she known him before he became a child she might have had a distinct sense of deja vu.

Ah yes, that was what she watched for. She watched for the shedding of the shell.

Once a year, if only for a moment, Kudou Shinichi came back to life.

Because he was always Shinichi, only Shinichi, for _her_.

They stood in silence.

Haibara didn't know how long they'd been standing there. Sunlight was beginning to creep over the treetops. Beneath them, across the mountainside, life was beginning to stir.

If they didn't hurry, they would be late for class.

Haibara leaned down one last time, to place her hand gently against the headstone. One last time, in the year, to feel this particular kind of warmth. And then she stood. "Kudou-kun-"

"Don't." The boy beside her said in a clipped, curt tone, and ice-blue eyes stopped on her face, sharp, piercing, for a second too long before he turned on his heels.

And then she was alone on the mountainside, the dead behind her, and the city brimming with life beneath.

Almost imperceptibly, Haibara shivered.


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N: This took me so long to get right. You have no idea how many times I wrote it, deleted it, and then rewrote it. There was an atmosphere I needed to get and I'm still not sure I got it, but two weeks later, I figured I ought to update. There isn't much I want to say about this chapter aside from make it clear that Conan...is no longer the sweet tiny child we know and love. Ten years can do a lot to someone.**

 **And also, I'm going to be on a plane for the next two days, and then I'll be in a different country with a flipped time zone, so updates might be weird. I'll probably start posting in the middle of the night cause it'll be the middle of the day for me, wherever I am~**

* * *

At first glance, it was highly unlikely that someone as young as Edogawa Conan could be so vital in the bringing down of an international crime syndicate of this size and scope. After all, the boy had barely been seven years old when the case had started, and now, ten years later, he was at the centre of the unraveling, the eye of the hurricane. Then again, anyone who knew Conan-kun-Edogawa-kun now, as he preferred to be addressed-would be able to testify that he had been a singularly creepy child: observant beyond his years and ridiculously clever. As soon as he had been old enough to provide aid to the police, Edogawa-kun had solved case after case with incredible accuracy and speed, so much so that at a mere fourteen years of age Megure-keibu had remarked on an uncanny similarity to another high school detective that had once been hailed the "Savior of Japanese Police," Kudou Shinichi.

Anyone who had made the acquaintance of Edogawa-kun, however, knew that the resemblance stopped at deductive prowess. Where Kudou Shinichi had been like fire, Edogawa Conan was like ice. The difference was so marked that not once had anyone suspected that they might be one and the same person.

It was a secret Conan would take with him to the grave, the way it had always meant to be.

A well-hidden warehouse in the countryside was where Black Organization had been, just under his nose, all this time. They'd gotten even better at hiding after that failed strike with the FBI. It took him ten years to sniff them out again. The mountain air smelled sweet and explosive, petrichor from freshly fallen rain mixing with the scent of gunpowder. The building burned as men and women in black or in lab coats had been smoked out of the headquarters of what used to be the greatest criminal organization in Japan, and arrested, one by one, by the swarm of police officers, security bureau, and FBI.

It was over. Finally over.

Edogawa Conan took a deep breath

"Are you relieved?" A quiet voice sounded next to him.

Some vague expression lifted at his lips. "I suppose."

"There are survivors, aren't there? Victims?" Haibara was surprisingly serene, considering the magnitude of the weight that had been lifted from her shoulders.

Before them, the fire still blazed.

"I don't see why that ought to interest me." Conan replied coldly, not looking at her. It didn't matter now. Not anymore. It hadn't mattered since ten years ago. What good was fruitlessly searching amongst the survivors if the one he looked for was already dead? "The case is solved."

The pause is suffocating all the same. He could tell from the silence that she knew she'd said the wrong thing.

"Of course not," she said, after a moment, slowly looking away again. "You're more interested in _them._ "

"After all, I made a promise." His voice was soft, and his lip lifted in a brief, feral grin as he tucked his hands into his pockets.

Haibara was too curious not to follow as he stepped toward the throng of law enforcement at the front. This is where she had spent eighteen years of her life, where her life's work had been created, destroyed, and then recreated. There were so many questions to ask. Samples to take. Things to search for.

Her heart dropped to her feet when she saw Sato-keiji lead a group of dazed looking civilians out from the building. Men, women and children, half-dressed in hospital gowns with unfocused eyes or crying in pain were hobbling out on the arms of police officers. This was headquarters after all, where she had researched, where she had experimented on people not unlike the ones she saw right now, where she had perfected a drug meant to take someone's life, and ended up perfecting a drug that would do just that, albeit in a different way than originally intended.

For them, the nightmare was over. For her, the nightmare was over. Atonement had begun.

Conan barely noticed when his companion branched off to talk with medical specialists and the biowarfare experts they'd asked to come to the scene, opting instead to seek out Megure-keibu.

"Ah, Co-Edogawa-kun," The police inspector was older, but very much the same, and on a night like this, he looked up with tired, tired eyes. "There's no need for you to be here, the FBI will be-"

"I would like to talk to one of their members," Conan said, cutting straight to the chase, face an emotionless mask. "Her codename is Vermouth." It was time to put his life as a silver bullet to rest. It was time for one last conversation. Just one.

He had some questions he wanted answers to. Some things he had to find out. Some things he ought to, needed to know.

"Edogawa-kun, that is-"

"Cool Kid can do what he wants," Jodie Starling spared a moment from giving instructions for evacuation to call over her shoulder.

Conan spared her a grateful look. The years had been hard on the American woman as well. They'd both lost someone ten years ago-and for her, she'd lost Akai Shuuichi again just as she'd realized he hadn't truly been dead the first time.

Megure-keibu reluctantly conceded. Edogawa Conan turned again, and the two men watched in silence as the victims of the organization were evacuated with all speed. Takagi-keiji was now leading out a line of children, of various shapes and sizes. Some had bruises or cuts, some were barely even responsive. This particular affair had unsettled Megure-keibu's stomach, although Conan seemed to remain, as ever, unmoved.

For purposes unknown, it seemed as though the experimental subjects were mostly children. Whether that was because they were easier to snatch or if it was because the organization had hopes of brainwashing and utilizing such a young and culpable force remained unknown, but Megure-keibu was suddenly very glad that they could now put every single member of this organization behind bars.

"They're going to be fine," the inspector said, out loud. He wasn't sure Edogawa-kun really cared.

In fact, the boy had hummed, and then turned, ready to walk away again, when a shrill cry cut through the night air and suddenly one of the children was cutting across the road and making a beeline straight for them. Megure-keibu had half expected the girl, a small, strangely familiar little thing, to go to him-but no, not at all-the little girl bypassed him entirely, and barreled straight into the legs of one Edogawa Conan.

For a second it was as if the wind had been knocked out of him.

The girl had been-had looked so much like-

And then slowly, slowly he allowed himself to look down.

Blood pounded in his ears because there was _no way-_

Hot tears stained his crisply pressed trouser leg. The little girl, so, so familiar but _impossible_ , drowning and floundering in what appeared to be a worn, oversized t-shirt that pooled to her feet, had wrapped her little arms around his calves and clung on, shaking.

Megure-keibu held his breath.

Conan flinched almost subconsciously.

Something seized and throbbed in his chest, sharp and aching, and he wanted to drop to his knees, wanted to, against all logic, take this little girl into his arms and protect her from the world.

He wanted her to stop crying. He _needed_ her to stop crying.

Her red, tear stained face. Her large violet eyes. The thin voice that was crying itself hoarse. It was all _her, she_ flooded his senses, robbed him of sight and any semblance of reason, but _it couldn't be_. It couldn't be, it was impossible, because _she_ was dead.

Ran had been dead for _ten years_.

A hand flew to his chest, hard knuckles pressing against the leftish place where his heart was supposed to be. He forced himself to draw deep, even breaths. It's not real. It couldn't be real.

Then it had to be a trick, didn't it?

Megure-keibu watched as the boy's face contorted and twisted and then slowly relaxed into an expressionless mask again. The temperature of the night seemed to decrease with the drop of the corners of the boy's lips.

"Edogawa-kun-"

"Stop crying." He told the girl coldly, ignoring Megure-keibu entirely. Conan wanted answers and he wanted them now.

The girl blinked up at him with red, watering eyes, and it hurt, yeah, but the hurt constricted and froze into something hard and sank down deep in his chest, anchoring him to reality, the reality that she was dead and whoever it was that had decided to do _this_ will _pay_. He was able to question her with a steady voice. "Who are you?"

"C-Can't...Can't remember-" she sniffed heavily, trying to calm herself, looking anywhere but at the stone-faced boy towering over her. The sorrow in her face and her voice was so familiar he had to look away. "-'M _sorry_ -"

The cold fury in him grew.

Conan grabbed the little girl's wrist roughly and turned to leave, dragging her behind him.

"Ah, Edogawa-kun-" Megure-keibu tried again.

"I'm heading to the station."

Vermouth. It must be Vermouth. No one else knew the art of disguise quite as well. No one else could steal Ran's face, her voice, her every gesture.

No one else would know to taunt him with _her_.

"I'll drive," Sato-keiji volunteered as she came up behind them, throwing a meaningful glance at Megure-keibu. "I'm going back anyway."

Conan said nothing, only climbed into the backseat of Sato's car. His grip on the little girl's wrist was still like iron, and he kept his gaze resolutely on the scenery just outside the window, didn't let himself, couldn't let himself be drawn in by the silent sniffling on the other side of him.

The darkness of the mountain faded into city lights, glowing gold beneath them.


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N: Still struggling with atmosphere :P But you know what, I'm actually p proud of the nifty pov switches I did in this part~ Thanks to everyone who's reviewed and faved and followed! Your feedback lets me know how I'm doing. And if you have time, pls drop a review into the inbox, it does make my motivation a lot better :D**

 **Because I am not a police officer in Japan, I had to fudge some legal details. Sorry if I was off~**

* * *

Officers leaped to get out of Conan's way, parted before him like the red sea as he tore down the hall and threw open the door to the holding room.

Sato stared at him and then at the little girl he'd shoved into a seat in the hall, and sighed. Anyone who had eyes could see why the teenage detective had such an adverse reaction to the little girl. She was the spitting image of _her_.

Mouri Ran.

Vermouth was being held at the station for questioning. Maximum security. No one was allowed in or out, because no one would be able to tell who came out, the guard or the prisoner. Still, she didn't look the least bit surprised when he charged into the room.

"My, my," the years had not left their mark on the beautiful face, and she wore the same poisonous smirk as she did all that time ago, looking up at the door. "Cool Guy. I never thought we'd meet again."

"And yet here we are." Conan sat down. Behind him, the door shut with an eerily silent click. He reached into his jacket and from within its folds he drew out a gun. His fingers looped around the trigger, clicked off the safety, and his face betrayed no emotion as he looked up. "I'm going to ask you some questions. You're going to answer them honestly."

The smirk grew wider. "A gun? Not really your style, is it? Just think of what _Angel_ would say-"

In an instant, the muzzle of the gun was pointed at her head.

Vermouth shut her mouth with an audible click, raising her hands slowly above her head, looking just so terribly _amused_.

" _Don't,"_ his voice was dangerously low, "Talk about her."

"An odd order, since you're here to ask me about her." A brief pause, and then that cheshire cat grin again. "Aren't you?"

A long silence.

"How did she die?"

He had to know.

She gave no reply.

" _How?"_ And he was prepared to wring the truth from her.

"How does anyone else die?" A coquettish smile.

"Don't play games with me."

"You think that's going to scare me into telling you anything I don't want to tell you?" Vermouth raised an eyebrow. "I've been at the wrong end of a muzzle too many times, Cool Guy. And besides," her gaze flickered over to the door. "Wouldn't you rather be solving the mystery outside than wasting your time with me?"

"Tell me."

"Poison," Vermouth yawned. "Painful. I believe you're familiar with it. Heart stopping. Bone melting. But there's something _else_ you want to ask me, and I'd much rather we get to that."

Conan gritted his teeth. _God give him strength not to kill her._ "Who is that girl? What did you do to her?"

"Now that's an interesting question. Why do you suppose I did anything to her?"

"Was it plastic surgery?" her feigned innocence didn't fool him. "Did the organization invent something that implants false memories?"

"Oh, Cool Guy," Vermouth laughed and her eyes flashed dangerously. "Do you want her to be dead that desperately? Is it because you can't face her now that the truth is out?"

"Don't." His gaze darkened.

"Is it because you're afraid that she won't want you now?"

"Shut up-"

"Or," She drew her words out long and conversational, "Is it because you know that if she _is_ alive then you've become the monster you are for _absolutely nothing_ -"

 _Bang._

He registered in the next moment that he had squeezed the trigger.

A rivulet of blood spilled from the top of Vermouth's ear to her cheek. She was smiling like the cat that got the cream, and there was triumph in her eyes.

The doors flew open in the next moment.

"Edogawa-kun-" Concerned policemen converged upon him.

For ten years he'd hoped, he'd prayed-he'd _begged_ the universe to _give her back._

And now…

He smiled, bitter, ironical.

And now he was tired.

"-I'm fine." The hand that held the gun dropped limply to his side, and the weapon itself clattered to the ground. When he raised his head again, his face was composed as always. "I'm leaving. Don't call me. I'm sure you can manage on your own for twenty four hours?"

Without waiting for a response, he swept outside. Sato, still sitting beside the girl child, tried to stop him, but he continued.

"Nii-chan!" A heart-wrenching cry, and the little girl was off like a rocket. She flew at Conan, throwing her arms tightly around his legs yet again.

Conan froze. Then he turned his face to the sky, eyes squeezed shut tight.

"God help me."

And then he jerked out of the little girl's arms.

In the silence all that remained was the smoke, the smell of gunpowder in the air, the bullet hole in the wall, and a little girl sniffling, rocking back and forth on the floor hugging her knees.

"...D-did I do something wrong?" She sniffed as Sato approached and she could already spot the tears forming in large, crystalline wells in her eyes, in such a familiar way that it almost made Sato's heart ache. "Why was Nii-chan s-so angry?"

"It wasn't you, Ran-chan." The older woman said absently, gaze still following Conan as he stormed away.

"...Ran...chan?"

Sato realized what she'd said. "Uh…"

"Is that...my name?" The little girl blinked up at her. "Is it, Onee-chan?"

"Do you...want it to be?"

"It sounds…so familiar…" There was something in the girl's eyes, something deep and dark and too old for the body that she was in. With a shudder, Sato realized that it was the look that Conan-Edogawa-kun-used to get sometimes, as a child. But then the girl screwed up her face again, bringing her little palms to push at her face. "But I can't-I can't remember…"

"Hey," Sato shushed her, scared that she was going to cry again. "It's ok. It's ok. We'll call you Ran-chan for now, just until you remember your real name, ok?"

"...Ok, Onee-chan." The little girl turned now to stare at the hallway, and then back at Sato. "That Nii-chan feels so familiar….Can I go with him? He asked what my name was. Maybe...maybe if I knew what my name was, he wouldn't be so angry."

"Silly," Sato tried to swallow the lump in her throat. "Didn't I already say it's not your fault? Besides, Nii-chan is mean, isn't he? Why do you want to go with him?"

"He's-Nii-chan's just-I-" The girl broke off, confused. Then she blinked up with large eyes at Sato. "Nii-chan feels familiar. Good familiar." Then, shyly, she looked away. "Do you know what I mean, Onee-chan?"

Sato nodded, even though she most definitely did _not._

Edogawa Conan, safe? Murder magnet, literal living ice block, the boy that looked murderers in the eye and cut through them, _safe?_

The girl no longer spoke, but stared at the end of the hallway, looking like she lost something, looking like she was looking for something, or _someone_ -

It was just too weird to think about. But Sato couldn't stop herself from snapping a quick picture and sending it to Takagi.

A second later, her phone rang.

"Say, Takagi, doesn't she look a little bit like," Sato picked up, whispering conspiratorially to the receiver without any prompting from the other end of the line, plunging right in, " _Her?"_

Thankfully, they'd been partners long enough for him to know how sporadically she called " _-Well, to be sure, but how could that be? She's dead."_

"I don't know. But...it looks like her. And it feels like her. And the way Edogawa-kun was behaving…"

" _Is beyond odd. Even if this is Mouri Ran we're talking about, she was just his Nee-chan. She died when he was seven. He can't have been as close to her as we'd have to believe for this display to be validated."_

"It's almost like she's more than that…"

" _Oi, oi,"_ she could almost hear his flustered smile over the phone, " _This is all pure speculation, yes? For all we know, the girl only looks like Ran-san."_

"Can we find out for sure?"

" _You're not arresting her, so, no DNA sample."_

"Prints?"

" _...if you're sneaky about it. I'll get Kurosawa to do it. As a favor."_

"Thanks. I'll get those to you tomorrow."

" _We are still on for lunch?"_

"Yeah," she smiled. Then glanced at the little girl beside her. "Well I have to go. I've got a crying six year old on my hands after all."

" _Take care, Miwako."_

"You too."

Sato hung up.

"What are we going to do with you?" she sighed, and turned back to little Ran.

* * *

The phone buzzed and lit up, rattling against the nightstand.

He shot up with a curse, snatching it up. " _What?"_

" _It's me,"_ Haibara's unaffected tones came through the receiver. " _I found the current model of the APTX pill."_

That at least, caught his attention. Conan rubbed his eyes and sat up. "Go on."

" _It's changed since the time when I first invented it. I can't tell what they added, but I think I would be able to reverse engineer a cure."_

Conan laughed. It sounded harsh even to his own ears. "What's the point?" he asked tiredly.

That part of him was already dead. Why look like someone who had disappeared, flickered out years and years ago? _Rage against the dying of the light..._ No, it was superfluous. Besides, there was no life to go back to as Kudou Shinichi. The only thing he would gain if he took that pill now was another ten years.

" _I thought you might say that. I'm going to try anyway. Oh, Sato-keiji asked me to bring someone to you."_

"Who?" He slowly rose out of bed.

" _Just come down._ " There was an urgency in Haibara's voice that had rarely, if ever, been present before.

"Fine." He got to his feet. "But I swear to god, Haibara, if it's a waste of my time-"

" _I highly doubt it, meitantei."_

Conan had slept in his clothes, so there was no need to change. Not that he would have cared enough anyway, no matter the visitor. One glance at the clock revealed that it was five in the morning. Out the window, beyond the curtains, over the hill, the sun was beginning to rise.

He descended the stairs slowly. He'd moved back to the Kudou Mansion after _she_ died. If Mouri Kogoro had been bad before, he was definitely worse now. Besides, Conan wasn't sure he could face Kogoro knowing that he would have to lie the same lie that cost him his daughter's life. The house was all his now, haunting empty, especially in the hours before morning. There were coats of dust on the floor, and on the curtains that were never drawn open anymore.

Conan had shut up most of it. He had no use for the kitchen, nor most of the bedrooms. And he nearly never went into the library now.

(There was something in the air there that reminded him of _her_ -as if, if he just turned, she'd be there, smiling or scolding him while straightening novels he'd left lying about again-)

(But that was another life.)

He pulled open the door to find Haibara standing on the doorstep. Conan's gaze traveled slowly downward to the little girl with chestnut hair, curled up and sleeping in her arms.

Even though he ought to have been prepared for it, the likeness took his breath away a second time.

"What is she doing here?" He asked, once he'd recovered.

"She asked for you," Haibara said. Her voice was steady, but now that he had more to analyze, he could tell she was agitated. Her eyes were bright, and her fingers shook a little. "Wouldn't let anyone else take her."

"Doesn't she have parents?"

"No one came for her. Sato-keiji was going to take her home but she asked for you. Put up a huge fight about leaving the station. We had to sedate her."

"What?" A little too sharply.

Haibara smirked. "What, does the meitantei actually care?"

He ignored her. "So you thought it was a good idea to actually bring her here?"

"I would've brought her to mine if I didn't think she'd freak when she woke up," Haibara handed the sleeping girl to him, all nonchalance. "Are you going to take her or not?"

"I-"

The girl stirred in his arms. Her little fingers curled loosely around his shirt and she looked so much like-

Conan stared at Haibara, expressionless.

She folded her arms, scowled, and stared right back.

"Fine," finally, he said, flatly. "But this is temporary. They will find her parents, and when they do, I won't be responsible for her anymore."

Then Conan turned and shut the door.

Haibara sighed. "Onee-san…" She turned, looking into the sky. The storm from the day before had cleared away. Light emerged from the horizon, casting a red glow onto the edges of clouds that had once been dark and angry.

Akemi died. Ran died.

But.

 _But._

Haibara closed her eyes. She slipped the singular hair she'd pulled from a sleeping Ran's head into a test tube, and sealed it.

She had work to do.


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N: HOORAAAAAY FOR LONG CHAPTERS~ but also long time btwn updates :P Sorry about that. I've been super busy for the last two weeks bc I was kind of on vacation and out all day, but now vacation is ending so I should have more time. For now, have this update as a symbol of my love~ Please drop a review into the box, it feeds the authoress's muse~**

* * *

His head throbbed with pain, and light stabbed at his eyes. Something warm and heavy pressed down on his chest, made it just a little bit hard to breathe. Conan groaned and stretched, feeling every crick and ache he'd acquired in the course of the night from sleeping sprawled on a sofa.

The hard lump pressed against his torso shifted.

He froze. And looked down. Sunlight pushed its way past the tightly drawn blinds, fell in clusters on the little girl fast asleep in his arms. He supposed he ought to count himself lucky that she had turned her face into his chest, because if he could see her then, at that particular moment in time, with morning light falling on her cheek, breathing deeply through parted lips, picturesque innocence in slumber, he really might really have believed that she was the girl he'd searched for and lost all those years ago, might have fallen for the trick, might have been blinded by the obvious lie.

Careful not to turn her, Conan pried the little girl off of him and set her down on the cushion.

She was still sleeping.

Damn. Exactly what kind of dosage did they sedate her with yesterday?

He decided that it didn't matter. He hadn't wanted to deal with her yet, anyway. Some coffee was in order first. A lot of it. To chase away the headache, at the very least. Thank god it was the weekend. Enough that Haibara was going to be on his goddamn back all day, he didn't think he couldn't stand the rest of the Shounen Tantei-dan. Especially now that there would be ceaseless questions concerning the identity of the girl.

Questions he himself didn't have the power to answer.

He'd just been taking the coffee pot out carefully from under the machine when she finally awoke.

"-Nii-chan?"

Her head popped over the edge of the kitchen door, hair a storm around her face as she watched him through bleary eyes.

He grunted roughly in response, not letting his gaze settle fully on her, pouring himself a cup of the dark, hot beverage. Conan sipped it, let the bitter taste gathering in his mouth, scalding his tongue, remind him that this wasn't real, no matter how similar her eyes or the expressions on her face were to hers.

"The nice lady at the station finally told me my name," She said, after a short pause, smiling with childish enthusiasm. "She said that they're going to call me-"

He set the mug down with more force than was necessary so he didn't have to hear that last syllable.

Deep breaths.

In.

Out.

Whoever this girl was, she didn't deserve to be at the receiving end of his irk. Likely, she'd been kidnapped. Likely, she was just an innocent child. Likely, she'd experienced many horrors. It was a logical line of thought. It was logical to assume that she had nothing whatsoever to do with Vermouth or the organization or their dirty schemes, but the very features of her face so thoroughly disarmed him, unsettled him, that even just a little word from her made something in his chest twist that he didn't even know still existed, knocked the wind out of him.

Someone simply existing shouldn't have the ability to knock the wind out of him. Not anymore.

Conan watched the girl coolly as he schooled his face into an expressionless mask again. Knowing the crows that he had dealt with for the last ten years, he also knew, without a doubt, that the organization had no qualms about starting spies this young.

"...Nii-chan?" the small voice interrupted his thoughts.

"What?" He asked flatly, still pinning her down with that soul-piercing gaze.

The girl had shuffled out into the open and was now standing timidly in the doorway with a blush, fidgeting with the hem of her slightly too large shirt. "...I'm hungry."

His brain took a few seconds to catch up with him.

Of course.

She was, after all, a child nonetheless. He remembered the vulnerability that came with being a child, more vividly than he should, it having been twenty seven years since his real childhood. Nefarious plans or not, this frail wisp of a girl could cause him no physical harm, and the faint ache in his heart when he looked at her vaguely discontented pout was merely imaginary.

Conan turned to the cupboards with a scowl, only to find them empty again. Grunting to himself, he made his way out of the kitchen, tossing back his head and finishing the rest of his coffee. He had no intention of going to Dr. Agasa's if only because Haibara was there, and he was in no mood for her poorly veiled jibes.

Some cafe, then, was the only choice this early in the morning. Perhaps he'd get another cup of coffee there-blacker than the one he'd made, since his customary three shots of espresso was waiting.

Walking briskly out the door, he grabbed the little girl's wrist.

She hurried after him, running to catch up to him with her little legs.

Light spilled onto the street, casting dark, long shadows that were even more apparent in the morning. All around them the world was still silent.

Conan preferred mornings. He was of a kind with the shadows, living at the edge of light and dark, at the edge of the world. The city was dead in the morning, given over to darkness and silence, and reminded him of curtains drawn closed, just a singular strip of sun on the carpet. It was pale and cold, born from the chill left over from the night. Mornings were light born out just of the shadow of night, diminished but stronger, colder, more lonely.

He much preferred to be alone. Being around others meant faking, meant pretending to actually live, meant pretending that he was doing anything other than just survive-

The girl walking beside him stumbled, and his attention was stolen unwillingly away. Conan glared.

She blinked up at him with large, frightfully innocent eyes.

The chastised expression, especially worn on her face (shortened, rounder, but still hers), twisted at the ends of his heart, impossibly seemed to cut the hard, taut muscle to ribbons.

With a pang of something like guilt, he realized that her thin, slender arm was turning red from his none too gentle grip, looking as though it was some sort of twig that he could snap in two with a twist of his fingers. Conan loosened his hold a little, and slowed down.

She smiled shyly up at him, grateful.

Something constricted in his throat and he looked away, inhaled deeply through his nose.

And found himself standing there.

He stood.

Nothing to be said. Nothing to do.

The corners of his lip lifted for a moment, impossibly fast, and then disappeared again, and his gaze grew blank, face its usual expressionless mask. After all, it was ironic, wasn't it? And to be expected. His existence now began and ended here, on this street, a few steps away. His feet had carried him there, against his will, because he'd been thinking about _her._

Cafe Poirot.

And just above it, grimy windows with large kanji letters, Mouri Detective Agency-

His gaze settled desperately on the diminutive figure beside him. Need rose in his chest, raw need mixed with an ocean of desire that threatened to overwhelm all logic, because only just then did he realize exactly how much hope had already begun to grow traitorously in his damn stomach and how maybe, just maybe, maybe only this could even possibly be-

The little girl stared up at the letters, without blinking. Without breathing. There was something like confusion in her eyes, and she turned, closed her eyes and then opened them again, unwavering. "What do those letters say, Nii-chan?"

And that was that.

The exchange lasted a few seconds, and throughout it all, the young man's face was unchanged. No one knew that in actuality, something in his chest had collapsed all over again. There was no outward sign of it, only that his gaze was sharper, darker than ever before.

Long, pale fingers wrapped around the slim little wrist again.

"Come on," he said, softly, in tones that were so gentle but so deadly that it made goosebumps appear on her bare arms. "Let's go."

"Oi!" A loud, angry, gruff voice came from behind them. "Freeloader brat!"

Conan stopped dead in his tracks.

Of course.

He had wanted to avoid this, done his best to steer clear, even going so far as to give up anything that had ever reminded him of her. He'd severed his ties completely, and yet, a decade later he was here, and all he could do was deal with the mess the only way he knew how.

"Unhand my daughter!"

"Your daughter?" the faintest hint of a smile played at his lips as he turned smartly on his heels to regard a red-faced Mouri Kogoro. This girl? She didn't even know her own name, didn't recognize the place where she'd lived, where they'd lived, for nearly two decades. She didn't recognize him, didn't recognize her father. At best she was an amnesiac, at worst, a mole.

No. She wasn't his Ran.

"Your daughter is _dead_ , Mouri-san."

His words hurt the older man and he knew it. It hurt himself too, cut deep into him, beyond every wall he'd ever put up to protect himself, ripped a raw, gaping hole into his heart. The weapons he used were double edged knives because it was _his_ fault that she died, dammit. For every person he'd ever cared about, _he_ deserved the pain, _he_ deserved to bleed.

"I heard from Takagi-keiji that you have her." It was clear that Mouri Kogoro was drunk, if not from the way he stumbled, then from the smell. "Give her back."

Takagi-keiji? Oh?

Then it was Sato who spilled the beans in the first place.

The little girl attached to his arm looked frightened. "Nii-chan-"

"I'm not your nii-chan," he said coolly, giving her such a foreboding look from beneath his eyelashes that she drew in a shuddering breath and was silent, stepping away almost reflexively.

If _she_ was here, the look on their faces would be identical, wouldn't it? The same silent horror on the same innocent face. She would be terrified of-to borrow a phrase from Vermouth-the monster he's become. Ran, who never wavered in her kindness. Ran, who always saw another way, believed there had to be one, believed that he would find it.

Ran, whose kindness got her killed.

Conan laughed. The sound chilled the people around him to the bone. And then he shoved the little girl violently toward the drunk man. "Take her. If you really believe she's your _dead_ daughter, then take her. _I don't care_."

Because Mouri Kogoro's hope was completely _pathetic_ and his hope was completely _pathetic._

 _She_ was _dead._

He turned around and stalked away, unmoved by the soft sobs of the girl child behind him.

* * *

 _"Takagi, you told Mouri-kun?"_

"He wouldn't let me take a sample unless I told him what for. That's not the important bit."

 _"Takagi, if you get Mouri-kun's hopes up-"_

"-it'd be fine. Kurosawa got the results today. It's a match."

 _"What do you mean, it's a match?"_

"It's an exact match."

 _"So...that little girl really is Ran-chan?"_

"She wasn't wearing anything on her fingers when you got the prints, did you?"

 _"Nope. I watched her like a hawk."_

Takagi sucked in a deep breath. "'When you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth,' right?"

 _"But...she's seven years old, and she was seventeen ten years ago...I can understand if she somehow wasn't dead, since the body was never found but...to be a child again…"_

"Maybe it's something that the organization did to her."

 _"...That would mean the amnesia is also engineered, huh? Even if I believe that, it still wouldn't explain why Conan-er, Edogawa-kun-reacted the way he did. If she really looked just like his nee-chan, wouldn't he be happy?"_

"We don't have all the details yet. It's a working hypothesis."

 _"...Takagi…"_

"What?"

 _"...Nothing. I'll see if I can get my hands on some of the organization's science files before they're destroyed."_

"Try not to overwork yourself. And stay safe, Miwako."

 _"You too. See you later. Bye."_

* * *

Conan had made it all the way to his front door when his phone rang. Tearing it out of his pocket and practically stabbing it with his fingers, he held it up to his ear. _"What?_ "

"Someone's in a bad mood." Haibara muttered under her breath on the other end of the line.

"If there's something you want to say, spit it out. I've no patience for your riddles today." It was her fault that the little girl had been there in the first place, her fault that he had to endure his heart shattering into a million pieces for the second and more definitive time.

"Get yourself to the professor's. I've got something to show you."

"If this is about the antidote, then I have absolutely no-"

"Just come over."

He growled and hung up, shoving his phone into his pocket, stalking over to the professor's. Whatever it was, it had better be worth his damn time because he wanted nothing more than to hole up in some dark room in his house to compose himself, to add another wall over this new scar.

Impatiently, he pressed the doorbell.

Haibara herself came to open the door, and, instead of inviting him in, shoved something at him.

Conan looked down at the pieces of paper, and then back up at her.

"I compared her hair to the little girl's." Haibara said matter of factly. "I trust you can read the assessment yourself."

Of course. Haibara, ever the scientist, the biologist, had performed a DNA test. Conan looked down woodenly at the black words printed on white paper, and he could hear the blood pounding in his ears as his grip on the edge of the paper tightened until the blood drained out of his knuckles.

Why hadn't he thought? Why hadn't he _just thought_? If he could have remained calm, remained _logical_ , maybe he would have seen it-

The truth.

She was _her_. Mouri Ran, a hundred percent _her_ , a _perfect match_ -

Nothing concerning her had ever been logical, had it? He'd found her again, by god he'd found her again, and where he thought he would be madly happy, all he wanted to do was fall to his knees and cry.

She was _real._

She was _here._

And he'd let her slip right through his fingers.


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N: Plots get rolling~ Baby Ran finally wins over our ice mountain of a detective! Also: look who's updating (le gasp) ON SCHEDULE? Yup that's right it me! Even though it may be kind of crap because I'm adjusting to time zones and my days/nights are completely flipped right now so I feel kind of like a zombie half the time. Drop a review into the box, it keeps the authoress's muse awake~ Enjoy~**

* * *

"I'm bringing her back." He muttered under his breath. He had to fix it. God, he had to get her back. He's finally going to _get her back._

Haibara spotted the signs. He was literally shaking.

"You'd better wait and hear the rest of what I have to say first," She said, slowly, coolly, angling herself more toward the warmth of the inside of Professor Agasa's home. Just to remind him. Just to let him down easily so his infamous temper didn't explode. "Because getting her back means nothing unless you can somehow get _Mouri_ _Ran_ back."

That caught Conan's attention. He looked up sharply. "Her memories?"

"And how she shrunk."

"...The APTX."

A smirk lifted the corner of Haibara's lip. He wasn't stupid, no. Just a touch less well-prepared, less sensible, when it came to _her._ After all, she hadn't seen so much emotion on that cool, smooth face since ten years ago.

Logic's natural enemy. Feeling.

"Sort of."

"Well?"

"APTX is what made her shrink, but it wasn't a side effect. From what I made out of the files that I could get my hands on, the pill is no longer being used as a poison. It seems as though the primary purpose of the pill is to shrink."

"...what would the organization want with that?" He mused out loud, more to himself than her.

"No idea. But, the drug has changed a lot. Not only does it shrink someone, it keeps them the age it shrank them to. It stops their biological clock once they take it."

Stops...it? "Is it reversible?"

"It's highly probable, yes. It's easier to undo immortality than achieve it. Now, the good news is that it should be easier to engineer an antidote, since the pill has been altered to result only in shrinking."

"And the bad news?" He sounded tormented.

"The bad news is that I won't be able to give her back the years she lost. It's too risky, could go wrong too easily. From what I can tell, once I make an antidote and she takes it, she'll be seventeen, not twenty seven. And apart from that, the amnesia is a completely isolated factor. I don't know if it's drug related or if it's trauma-" she watched his eyes darken at the suggestion, shuddered at the sheer hatred in that look reserved only for the people who hurt Ran, and continued. "-but until we find out what happened to her, we can't fix it. And come to that point you have to make a choice."

His gaze, still glittering with something hard and cold like steel, turned to her. " _What_ choice?"

"Whether or not to give her the antidote." Haibara swallowed. This was the hard part. She remembered his face when Gin had taunted him with Ran's death so long ago. The utter disbelief, defiance, and then the fear, the near frantic way he tore apart the Detective Agency, the house, anywhere she could've been. And then finally, the way all feeling seemed to drain, slowly out of his face, when he finally resigned himself to the fact that it was _true_ , that she was _gone._

It was the face he was wearing now, ashen, expressionless, dead. "What do you mean?"

Haibara didn't want to know what losing Ran again was going to do to him. But. _But._ Someone had to be rational here. "If we can't get her memories back you're going to have to decide whether or not to give her the antidote. If she goes back to being seventeen-without any of her memories-she won't be able to live a normal life. You have to ask yourself, objectively, if it would be better to let her stay a child, because for whatever reason she seems to trust you and she can't make that decision herself anymore."

Of course, though, to expect objectivity from him on this subject was nigh impossible. But Edogawa Conan's entire existence, the reason this identity had been created to begin with, was to guarantee her well-being. So maybe, just maybe-

To her surprise, he laughed, something deep and dark and wet and strangled, not quite a chuckle, as he turned to her with warm, reddening eyes that were ablaze with some unnameable emotion.

Haibara held her breath, leaning backward.

He didn't tear her apart. Didn't yell. Didn't threaten. Didn't so much as make a noise of impatience. Instead, he looked away again, and, still smiling ironically to himself, muttered under his breath, "Can't I be selfish, just once?"

And for a long while, neither spoke.

"I understand what you're trying to say." Conan's voice was cool, composed again, so much so, in fact, that she could almost forget a moment ago he had sounded like he was on the verge of tears. "I'll consider it." And the he turned on his heel and left.

Haibara stared after him, and sighed as she moved to shut the door. Some part of her heart (because after ten years she admitted she had one) ached for him. It ached for Ran, and it ached for herself. If only she hadn't invented that damn drug to begin with. Then everyone would still be here, wouldn't they? Akemi with her well of unending love and her warmth and her always knowing when Haibara needed a hug...What would Akemi say if she was here?

What would Ran herself say?

But neither of them were _really_ here, now, were they? And until she could fix this, until she could undo her transgression, Mouri Ran will stay dead, and all of this would remain wishful thinking.

She sighed again and turned to go make more coffee. It was going to be a long week.

* * *

Ran clung on almost reflexively to the nearest pant leg she could reach, burying hot tears into the dark blue material.

"Ran…? Ran...you're alive…" The oji-san she'd been clinging on to burst into tears himself, leaning down to lift her into his arms.

She wiped her eyes quickly with her sleeves.

She blinked at the distinct sense of deja vu. Oji-san felt familiar. _Safe_ familiar, much like Nii-chan.

Well. After all, he'd said that she was his daughter. Just because she didn't believe it didn't mean it wasn't true...right? And Nii-chan said too...

Said man was currently dead drunk, blinking away tears that blurred his vision and trying to navigate the stairs up into the Mouri Detective Agency at the same time, which was the opposite of safe, in reality. Upon reaching his home, Mouri Kogoro, as if by habit, slumped into the couch, where he cried all over Ran, mumbling incoherently. She patted Oji-san's shoulder, just a little awkward, not knowing exactly what to do and being squeezed breathless. Eventually though, Mouri Kogoro slumped a little, and began to snore rather than mumble.

Ran tried to stay, she did, really, but Oji-san was heavy and her arm was falling asleep. She wiggled out of his arms and sat for a moment, staring. Did Oji-san really always get drunk this early in the morning? She may not have remembered but...it felt wrong, somewhere deep in her bones, hurt, almost, when she realized with a pang that it seemed as though the wrinkles and the pain on the old man's face was correlated to her.

Ran got up from the couch, waddled over to one of the closets, and dragged out a blanket, heaving with all her might. She covered Oji-san-because though she knew it might very well be the truth, it felt wrong calling him otou-san when she remembered nothing-with it.

In the silence, the feeling of loss washed over her again and she nearly burst into tears a second time. The house, with its empty darkness, loomed over her. What if there were ghosts here?

The very thought made her shiver and curl in on herself.

What little she remembered began in a room not quite unlike this one, vast, empty, unlit. Ran was alone, all alone. She'd thought the nice keiji who'd wanted to rescue her was a ghost too, until he led her out by the hand and she realized that he was real, that he was alive, and that she was alive too.

And then that Nii-chan-when she'd seen him _sheer relief_ flooded her senses and all she wanted to do was to throw herself into his arms and cry because he felt safe and she knew he was _safe_ and she hadn't felt _safe_ for such a very long time-

Her stomach growled audibly in the quiet room.

Ran knew she couldn't head to the cafe downstairs. After all, she didn't exactly have money. Grabbing a stool, she headed into the kitchen in the house. The supplies in the cupboard were scarce, but it was enough for making breakfast, at least. And she could repay Oji-san by making breakfast for him too!

Having made up her mind, she went, practiced, to the place where the pans were kept. Ran did wonder why she was so familiar with this house, but shrugged it off in favor of her work as she pulled out the first frying pan she saw. Turning on the stove, she set the pan down.

Ran cracked the eggs against the counter and let them pool into the pan. She watched intently as it fizzled, filled the room with a delicious smell that made her stomach complain even more. Holding up the bacon with her little fingers, she was about to set it into the pan when the door flew open.

"Ran?" Edogawa Conan looked wild-windblown hair, blazing eyes-as he tore inside.

It was the first time he'd said her name.

Tears sprang to her eyes and the bacon was dropped, forgotten. "Nii-chan!"

He closed the distance between them in two long strides and scooped her up into his arms. She put her own little arms around his neck as best she can. Beneath her hands she could feel Nii-chan trembling.

"...Nii-chan?" she asked, blinking. "...Are you ok?"

She didn't understand why everyone seemed to cry around her. Did she do something wrong?

Silence. He made no reply.

Eventually Conan stilled and drew back and set the little girl on her feet again, kneeling to be at eye level with her. His face, as always, betrayed no emotion, and his eyes were definitely dry, but his hand smoothed back the stray locks of hair falling into her large eyes with the utmost gentleness. This is why Nii-chan felt safe. Because no matter what he did or said, he seemed to exude a kind of warmth that only she could feel.

"...Nii-chan?" Ran asked as she looked to the side, a little timid and flustered under the intense scrutiny.

"I'm sorry," his voice was a little hoarse, a little gruff. "For leaving you here. I'm sorry."

A moment of silence. Two.

Then Ran beamed. "It's okay, Nii-"

"Conan," he interrupted. Shinichi, he'd wanted to say. But that was another life ago. Before she died. Before he died with her. Another life that was lost, to time. To loss itself.

"Conan-niichan…" The girl paused, bit her lip. "The bacon's burning-" Then she turned and climbed up to the stove with all the clumsiness of a child.


	6. Chapter 5

**A/N: I am so sorry about how long this took. This one...was pretty difficult to write. First off, I didn't want Ran to leave Kogoro T.T BUT SHE HAD TO FOR PLOT PURPOSES. So I had to come up with plausible reasoning. And Conan wasn't too mean here (my heart couldn't stand it). He's just...well, not tactful about facts (and also a lil bit of a hypocrite shhh he's just desperate). Secondly, I HAD NO IDEA WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN IN THE OTHER HALF? SO I JUST WROTE IN RANDOM PLOT THINGIES SO THAT IT DOESN'T SEEM PLOT HOLEY?**

 **anyway. For those of you who thought this is going to be fluffy from now on: there will be fluff. BUT. That does not mean the angst will stop. Wahahahaha.**

 **Drop a review into the box if you liked it~ See y'all next update (which will hopefully be more on time?)!**

* * *

He watched her wolfing down her breakfast happily out of the corner of his eye, as if, should he take his gaze off her for a single second, she would disappear again. His own plate of eggs and bacon lay untouched on the table.

The smell of coffee filled the air.

Conan turned his attention back to the man in front of him. The beverage, steaming in the least dirty mug he could find, was pushed across the table.

The inebriated man accepted it with minimal grunting, gulping it down.

Conan waited. Impatiently, his gaze strayed to the side again.

"Is it really her?" Fractionally more sober, Mouri Kogoro asked, jerking his head in the same direction.

Conan rose to refill the cup. "It's her."

Another pause, as Kogoro took another swig of the coffee. Then dark eyes fixed on Conan.

Conan stared right back.

"You have some explaining to do, boy."

A smirk, almost cruel, curved at his lips. "Are you sure you're sober enough to listen?"

Kogoro scowled. "Try me."

"She's alive." The words were clipped. Concise. He didn't see the point in telling him the whole truth. In fact, for what he was trying to accomplish, it might be better if he didn't mention the fact that he and Kudou Shinichi were one and the same. "They found her in one of the organization's labs."

"Why is she like this?"

"Poison. We think."

"We?"

"Haibara and I."

"One of those other brats," Kogoro mumbled, downing the rest of his coffee. "In any case, what are you doing with Ran? Takagi-keiji saw fit to tell me about this. Obviously they suspected."

"Ran doesn't remember." A dull pain spiked in his chest at that thought. He pushed it down, swallowed it, let it sink into the deepest part of him. No time. "She doesn't remember anything. Anyone."

"That's "Ran-neechan" to you," Kogoro growled. "And no matter her size, she's still my goddamn daughter."

"That may be so, Mouri-san. But you can't take care of a six year old right now, can you?"

"Don't tell me what I can and can't do, detective brat!"

"I was honestly surprised that your cabinets were stocked. There's no way you did it yourself, is there?" There was a hard glint in his eye, like steel, sparking like fire as his gaze swept across the room, "It's not Kisaki-san either. If it had been her, the room wouldn't be so disarrayed, and you wouldn't be half as drunk. It's Asuza-san from the cafe downstairs, isn't it?"

"What's your point?"

"My point, Mouri-san, is that you can't even take care of yourself. How can you expect to take care of her?" Conan laid out facts as they were. "What is she going to do when you go out drinking all night again?"

"And why do you care?" Kogoro demanded, anger and tipsiness making his voice louder than usual. "You were seven when she died. You barely even know her."

To the eyes of the world that was true. Nobody understood why talkative, enthusiastic Edogawa Conan suddenly became sullen. Nobody understood why he became, in a way, uninterested in anything to do with life. Nobody understood why the only way anybody got him to say anything was a murder case.

"Mouri-san, I love her as much as you do." Though the coldness in his voice was enough to convince anyone otherwise, didn't he? He was relenting, wasn't he? For her sake, purposefully withholding the sheer viciousness inside him that screamed "there was an easier way," purposefully trying not to hurt her father, though he's never cared about that before. I'm in love with her, he wanted to say. But she was first his nee-chan and now here she was, ten years younger than him. He couldn't ever just be in love with her. The universe didn't permit it. "You know as well as I do that she can't very well do this again the second time."

As if to emphasize his point, there was a crash from the kitchen.

Conan and Kogoro started to their feet.

Some muscle in his chest seized and twisted, tied itself into a knot, would not undo itself until the small head popped out of the corner, a smile plastered on her small face, and the thin, little voice proclaimed, "I'm ok, Conan-niichan, Oji-san!"

One stride, two, and then the distance between them was crossed and he lifted her into his arms. Long, pale fingers ghosted over her little arms, over her knobby knees and boney shins, searching for a scrape or a bruise. The dirty dishes dropped (that she had been trying to do) lay forgotten on the kitchen floor.

Kogoro stared, first at his daughter, then at this boy that he had sort of raised, and wondered, vaguely, how it went so wrong.

"Fine." Before he even knew it he was speaking again. Something in his voice caught, and he took a deep breath.

Conan turned his head. In his arms, little Ran blinked with large eyes at a father she couldn't remember.

"You can take care of her for now, since Eri is in Europe." Kogoro's eyes were fixed on his daughter. He hardly seemed to see anything else. " But when she gets back…" The dark-eyed gaze, sharper and infinitely clearer now, settled on Conan's face. "The second she gets back…"

"I understand, Mouri-san." Conan acknowledged.

Across the room, the gazes of the two men who loved Ran most met, and held.

Neither withdrew, but a compromise had already been reached.

* * *

"Conan-nii-chan...Will Oji-san be ok?"

They'd stayed with Mouri Kogoro until late in the afternoon. Conan contented himself with just watching her as Kogoro obliged to her every whim with gentleness he hadn't known the older man possessed. She had not been allowed into the kitchen again. They ordered sandwiches from downstairs instead, for lunch.

He allowed himself to dwell on her wording. It was pathetic, he knew, somewhere deep inside him, because he was grasping at straws. Selfish too, because she remembered nothing but some part of him held her to the woman she was.

But it didn't take a detective to notice that from the very start she had called him Nii-chan, not _Onii-san_.

"He needs some time." Instead, he told the girl walking alongside him. Their pace was measurably slow now, to allow her to keep up on her short legs. He wasn't used to the pace but he was sure, for her, he could learn anything.

Her hand, wrapped around his fingers, as she dragged him down the street excitedly, was enough.

 _This_ was enough.

To say his world constricted would be a lie. Rather, his world had been pushed apart to make room for her.

It was simultaneously too much and too little. After ten years this was what he got. This was what she got. He found a child, different, but still the same, and she found a boy that had changed so much that even his belief in her had wavered. Conan didn't believe Ran could be alive. And in a way he was right. His Ran was gone, at least until Haibara could figure out what the organization did to her. A part of him resented this little girl for not being his Ran. A part of him resented that the universe still hadn't forgiven him.

But then.

But then she looked up at him, with clear, violet eyes, _her eyes, her smile-_

He called Teitan Elementary School when they got "home," gave meticulous instructions and made up information coolly to the receptionist when she asked who it was he was registering to enter the first grade. After all, he himself had to go back to school come the morrow. The gossip surrounding him was bad enough, and would only get worse if he was seen toting a child around during the day. The fact that said child was at least six years old should but would not deter any talk and while Conan could honestly care less, he didn't want Ran, still so small, so frightened, to be exposed.

He still didn't know exactly what the organization did to her. He intended on finding out before the members get their sentence, of course.

There would be hell to pay.

He called Agasa-hakase later, to see if he could bring by some of Haibara's old things, and the doctor, looking more worn than ever before, had shown up at the doorstep with a bundle almost ten minutes later, poking his head through the door to look at Ran, who had fallen asleep curled up in the spot she had occupied just this morning.

Conan hadn't want to bother Haibara herself. Her work was important to him after all.

It may sound selfish. But Conan had long since stopped caring what was and wasn't selfish anyway.

What had selflessness earned him, except ten years of living death?

When it became apparent that Ran was fast asleep and not about to wake up, not even for dinner, he scooped her up into his arms, with care so uncharacteristic had anyone seen him they would not have believed it was real, and took her upstairs into his room.

It was the only one that could passably be lived in, in this giant, empty, lifeless house.

There wasn't much to do in school except sleep anyway. He could lose some. It didn't matter.

What did matter was her round face. The way silky strands of dark hair fell into her eyes. The way something deep inside him was frantic with worry that if he even let her out of sight for just a second she was going to disappear again.

Conan hadn't truly known fear until Ran walked out of a door and he never saw her again. He hadn't ever been truly fearless until then either, because what did he have to fear when there was nothing to be threatened?

But now. Now was different. Now he had no reason to be afraid, and yet so much more.

She was here. She was with him again, more fragile, more breakable than before.

Only this time, whoever wanted to get to her would have to go through him.

He closed the door gently, and paused for a moment, back pressed against the door. Moonlight glinted off his glasses, reflected rays of light like silver knives.

The boy with eyes, bluer than blue, bluer than human.

His lips curled into a vicious smile.


	7. Chapter 6

**A/N: I'm back with an update! I'm starting school next week, so there's no knowing what my posting schedule will be like in the future :P It was fun dealing with grown up versions of everyone! Before anyone asks, yes, Takagi and Satou are married and they have a kid. She's still going by Satou in a professional capacity so she calls him Takagi on duty. He has less restraint.**

 **And also, concerning Conan's personality. I'm becoming increasingly aware that perhaps I should've tagged AU in the summary, but I think anyone can tell this is super AU. Conan's not like Shinichi right now. He might not ever be completely like the original Shinichi again. Ten years can do that to someone, especially ten years of living hell. He'll get better. His personality will get to a workable point. But I don't think it'll ever be what it was before the Conan fiasco. Just fair warning haha :D**

 **Drop a review in the box if you liked it, sometimes the authoress requires motivation haha.**

* * *

 _"Takagi-he's been on a warpath."_

 _"Edogawa-kun?"_

 _"He's been in to see almost every one of them. We assigned an officer to keep an eye on him, but-"_

 _"Can't you just restrict his access?"_

 _"Legally, yes. But frankly, I'm the one dealing with him here, and you don't know how damn determined he looks. He'll probably break in if we stop him now. The only one we're not allowing him to see is Vermouth. You know, since he put a bullet in her wall."_

 _"And? What about them?"_

 _"Nothing. I can't get anything out of them. I don't know if Edogawa-kun can either. Sure, they're all but convicted...but…"_

 _"Ran-san."_

 _"...Does Megure-keibu know?"_

 _"I haven't told anyone since Mouri-san."_

 _"We're sorting through the data recovered from their labs right now...there's quite a bit. But. I have a bad feeling."_

 _"Tell me about it. Something that can reverse time? Turn a seventeen year old back to a seven year old? Sounds like it came right out of a science fiction movie."_

 _"And, it sounds like something to keep out of the public eye. If we uncover this right now, it'll go to building a case against them. When it ends up in court-"_

 _"There'll be no way to keep it from the press."_

 _"And if this becomes public knowledge...it could be dangerous. For humanity, and even more for Ran-chan."_

 _"...I won't say anything to anyone. But you'll have to handle Megure-keibu when the time comes."_

 _"Thanks."_

 _"Miwako?"_

 _"Yeah?"_

 _"Can we try to go home a little earlier today, maybe? Natsumi-chan's practically been living at the neighbors for the past few days."_

 _"I'll try. Is she okay?"_

 _"She's been asking after her mother. You should call."_

 _"As soon as I can. I"ll see you later."_

 _"See you."_

* * *

Conan-Edogawa-kun-had been as elusive as a ghost this past week. The course of the day itself went by as it usually did. The boy regarded everyone with cool indifference, said as little as possible, answered any academic questions succinctly, perfectly, did his work, and then put his head down on the desk and slept through the rest of the lesson. On cue though, when the bell that signaled the end of school rang, he always got up and left without another word, even to Haibara-san, who seemed to be the only person he used say more than three words to.

The shonen tantei-dan, ten years older and ten years more experienced, eyes as bright and sharp as a hawk's, had come up with a battle plan.

Haibara-san had not deigned to be a part of it, and that, according to Mitsuhiko, who was not the one who had come up with the plan of action, meant this was a very bad idea. Genta and Ayumi overthrew him, especially since Haibara-san was equally suspicious. They hadn't seen her in a while either.

It was a serious problem. Their detective group was down two members, and while the three seventeen-year-olds were perfectly capable of solving cases by themselves now, it always seemed to go faster when the other two were around.

Something was wrong. Usually, they didn't pry into the lives of their friends. What Haibara-san and Edogawa-kun did in their spare time was their business. They didn't deny that it was strange but no matter how prickly the two have been, they were _friends_.

So they went about solving the problem seriously.

And quickly found out that something had changed.

Today was _different_.

So different in fact, that Edogawa-kun didn't even seem to have noticed that they were following him. Ever since he had been a child-been just _Conan-kun_ , a brilliant boy who smiled a lot and took care of them-he'd always been able to tell when they were tailing him.

Not today.

His mind seemed to be absorbed in something else.

That something else proved to be beyond imagination.

The shonen tantei-dan frowned from their hiding spot behind the low wall they were crouched down against as Edogawa-kun stopped in front of what appeared to be their old elementary school. What business did he possibly have here? Was it a case that one of the teachers needed him to solve? A student?

They watched as he stood, tapping his foot arrhythmically, as if waiting. A sea of children poured from from the doors, skirted around the "scary nii-chan" with raucous noise. The rare glimpse of emotion on his face was what the shonen tantei-dan discerned to be impatience, and Edogawa-kun growled something inaudible, shoving his hands in his pockets.

Then, all of a sudden, something changed about him.

Something had shifted in that usually stabbing, blue-eyed gaze, though there was, as always, no such expression on his face.

They followed his line of sight, wondering, a little awestruck, what could possibly have elicited such a response-

And then they saw _her._

Arms-outstretched, hair in wild tangles over her shoulder, cheeks flushed a healthy red, a little girl was all but hurtling toward Edogawa Conan.

 _"Conan-nii-chan!"_

They watched, dazed, as Edogawa-kun dropped to his knees in the dirt to catch the little girl as she crashed into his arms, lingered a moment too long, face buried in her hair, a girl with a hint of brown in her long, dark hair and such vibrant, violet eyes, the spitting image of-

Mitsuhiko looked to Genta, and Genta looked to Ayumi.

"Conan-nii-chan?"

Cool silence. But the boy had inclined his head toward the small girl gathered up in his arms.

"Are we going to the police station again?"

Police station? Was she a victim, or perhaps a witness? Whatever he then leaned down to say to her was toneless, barely audible, meant for her only.

Who was this girl?

They watched as she wrapped her chubby little arms around Edogawa Conan's neck, still chattering animatedly. The shonen tantei-dan sucked in a breath collectively.

This, more than anything else, convinced them that this girl was not merely a stranger. Edogawa-kun hated chatter and, by extension, disliked children, and yet here he was, allowing her to talk his ear off. He would not have stood for it, even for someone who looked so much like Mouri Ran. After all, he'd cut ties with Mouri Kogoro almost immediately after Ran-nee-chan had died, didn't he?

And the girl, too. No one had had the courage to initiate conversations with Edogawa Conan for years. They had attempted it many times themselves but a nod or a hum indicating that he'd heard them was all anyone had ever been able to get out of him, and only on good days. His silence cut, and on the rare occasions that he did decide to speak, his words cut even more. There was something lethal about this lean, hollow teenager that warded everyone away from him, bespoke danger in his every step.

They wondered vaguely why he had stopped in his tracks. And then. "Are you going to stay there forever?" A cool, quiet voice cut through the air.

Damn. He did notice after all.

The three seventeen-year-olds shuffled out from their hiding place, the momentary guilt on their faces almost childish.

The little girl-now that they were staring at her fully in the face, it was noted, by all three, that she was _really cute_ -blinked at them with large eyes, shrinking almost automatically into Edogawa-kun's arms.

"It's alright," He was quick to assure her, ducking his head to be at her eye level, coaxing her back out with such uncharacteristic gentleness that Mitsuhiko, about to introduce his friends to the little girl, choked and doubled, coughing.

It was like a switch that went on and off in a second.

"Conan-nii-chan...who are they?"

"Yoshida Ayumi, Tsuburaya Mitsuhiko and Kojima Genta." His sharp gaze had lifted toward them again.

"And who is _she?_ " Genta couldn't help blurting out.

The question, unasked, hung in the air.

Why did she look so much like _Ran?_

"I'm taking care of her at the moment." Conan answered stiffly. Brief, to the point, and yet managing to avoid it all together.

"Did Ran-san have a daughter…? I mean...before she...uh…" Mitsuhiko trailed off at the glare the other boy leveled at him.

The little girl seemed to perk up at the mention of that name though. " _My_ name is Ran, onii-san!" Her face lit up in a smile, as if the simple act of announcing who she was gave her great joy.

Conan scowled, especially at the slack-jawed expression that seemed to be reflected on everyone's face. "It's a coincidence, nothing more. Now. I need to go to the police station."

No one mentioned that this was the first time in a long while that he'd said so many words in a row. And definitely no one mentioned exactly how suspicious that fact was.

"Co-Edogawa-kun, are you working on a case that you're not telling us about?" Ayumi called after him.

This time, there was no reply.

The shonen tantei-dan watched their friend's silhouette shrinking and then disappearing entirely down the street.

Ten years ago, Ran-nee-chan died, and left Edogawa Conan an empty shell of a boy. And now, ten years later, something was stirring under that shell, something that changed in conjunction to a girl with a familiar face...

"Something is definitely wrong here," Mitsuhiko came to the conclusion.

"And," Ayumi said, turning, a determined set to her jaw. "Ai-chan definitely knows something about it."

* * *

"Ran-chan!" Chiyoko-nee-chan had been waiting for them by the door.

Nii-chan set her down on her own feet and she grinned up at the older woman. "Hello."

Akita Chiyoko, deemed the official Edogawa Conan wrangler after three days on the job, threw a weary glance at the teenage boy that swept past her, but after a moment, turned her attention back to the little girl who, unlike her companion, was an absolute delight.

"Let's get you some orange juice," the nice nee-chan took Ran's hand and led her to a seat. "We don't know how long your Nii-chan's going to be in there anyway."

A moment later, Ran was settled in a plastic chair, sipping at a glass of juice that looked gigantic in her tiny hands.

Chiyoko threw an apologetic glance over her shoulder. "I have to keep an eye on your Nii-chan."

"Because he's seeing dangerous bad guys?"

The question made Chiyoko sigh. The organization was dangerous, yes. But now, subdued, in their cells, the police were afraid that Edogawa-kun was the dangerous one here.

"Yes," She chose to reply. "You'll be ok on your own for a little bit?" Her gaze fell on the small backpack that Ran was carrying, "Do your homework?"

Ran nodded solemnly. "I'll be ok, Chiyoko-nee-chan."

The girl was a perfect little angel, Chiyoko privately decided, running after he decidedly less good charge with another heaving sigh. Sometimes, she really hated her job.

Ran sat still, watching the nee-chan go, and took another gulp of the orange juice, before setting it on the little table beside her, and rummaging around her backpack for her homework.

She felt safe here too, despite the great bustle of people. She disliked crowds for some reason that she couldn't seem to know, almost like she knew she was afraid of something, but forgot what it was. School was less difficult, since the majority of the people there were children, like her, and Kobayashi-sensei was nice, albeit a little strange around her. Public spaces were harder, but Conan-nii-chan was around to help her with that.

Ran had been halfway through her math homework (which was..strangely easy?) when a voice, amused, warm, and somehow familiar, stirred her from her intent study.

"You know, your juice is getting warm, ojou-chan."

Ran looked up, eyes wide, but the squeak of terror that was about to escape from her lips died in her throat when her gaze settled on a face with features that were all too familiar.

"Here," The onii-san had another cup in his hand. "I got you some ice."

Ran blinked.

Blue eyes set in a sharp, angular face. Dark hair that wasn't quite tamed even by the cap that he wore low, drawn over his eyes. Something about this person was so familiar-but so different. There was a name she wanted to connect to him, but it wasn't quite right. The hair was too wild. The eyes laughed too much.

Nimbly, he poured half of the ice in the cup into her orange juice.

"Thank you," she said, meekly, politely, because it was somehow ingrained in her. "But I don't think I should talk to strangers…"

The onii-san popped an ice cube from the remaining half cup into his mouth, chewing with a grin. "

She glanced at the drink. Something in her stomach squirmed. She was a child. She was innocent, naive. Part of her wanted to reach for that drink without restriction, but another part of her, something deep down, buried underneath that exterior screamed at her don't do it.

And yet. And yet this Onii-san felt safe too, somehow. Perhaps it was because...because he looked so much like Conan-nii-chan? And he did. Like an older version of her Nii-chan, and yet somehow younger, lighter.

"Do I know you, Onii-san?"

He was scrutinizing her too. In fact, his eyes were doing that thing that Conan-nii-chan's did-like he was _catching on to something..._ "...perhaps, _Ran_ -chan."

A little gasp made its way from her lips. "How did you know my name?"

"A magician never reveals his secrets, Ran-chan. But," A grin. The look in his eye was gone, replaced once more but plain, harmless amusement. "It's hardly fair this way, so let's compromise. I'll tell you my name. Deal?"

"...Deal."

"Kaito," A rose bloomed from between his fingertips and he offered it to her, earning yet another gasp from the little girl. "Nice to meet you."

 _Kaito_ didn't sound right in her head. _Kaito_ was not the word she had been trying to associate with this face...but…"Nice to meet you, Kaito-nii-chan." She took the flower, giggling.

"Ran-chan, now that we're acquainted, can I ask a favor from you?"

The girl looked up at him with wide eyes, cocking her head in a silent question.

"I have a note for your Nii-chan," Kaito pulled out a neat little card from his jean pocket. "But I have to go soon. Can you give it to him for me?"

The girl studied the card intently, as if wondering if it was some kind of trick in and of itself. Then she gave a firm nod. "Ok."

He grinned and thanked her, but not before taking out a pen and adding a few lines to that "note." He had to account for the new...development.

Kaito magicked a balloon from out of nowhere, and gave it to the girl, before he left.

After all, _Ran-chan_ seemed like she needed a pop of color in her life.

* * *

 _"...Takagi?"_

 _"Miwako?"_

 _"I'm going to be home late. Again."_

 _"...Paperwork?"_

 _"No. Heist note."_

 _"Heist note? You mean-"_

 _"Kaitou Kid."_

 _"Isn't that Nakamori-keibu's division though?"_

 _"The note was personally addressed to Edogawa-kun, and delivered to him just barely. By Ran-chan. We pulled the security tapes. Someone came to talk to her, but we can't narrow down our nonexistent suspect list because he's a goddamn master of disguise. Edogawa-kun lost his shit."_

 _"Over the heist?"_

 _"No, over the fact that a wanted criminal just waltzed into the police station and talked to Ran-chan like it was nothing. I've tightened security, and I'll be home as soon as I fax the note to Ekoda and Nakamori-keibu's stopped yelling at me."_

 _"Good luck. I'm going to put Natsumi-chan to bed now."_

 _"God, what would I do without you?"_

 _"Far more than you give yourself credit for. Come home soon."_

 _"'Kay. Thanks. Bye."_

* * *

 _Tantei-kun,_

 _Congratulations on your triumph against those pesky crows. In honor of your victory, I will steal the new moon on the fifteenth of autumn when the curtain falls._

 _I apologize for the quality of the riddle, but, after all, it is young eyes that see them first._

 _With great respect. (The signature cartoonish face with the monocle and top hat.)_

 _PS. Oh, and bring the little ojou-chan along, will you?_


	8. Chapter 7

**A/N: last update before school starts! But before we get on to the chapter, announcement time! I don't know if people do fanfiction milestones, but holy crap, we hit 100 followers last chapter and I'm still screaming inside my head. Mind officially blown guys. Thank you all so much for investing your time in this story even though the authoress's procrastination/life often leads to the update schedule being shot to hell. Your feedback is honestly the best reward I can get for putting out chapters and I just have to thank all of you so, so much for sticking with me! Next chapter's the Heist, so I hope you're looking forward to that~**

 **Also, new drinking game, take a shot every time Ran cries in this fic. Daaaaaaang. (but also she canonically cries a lot sooo)**

 **Anyway. Enjoy the chapter, and as always, please drop a review into the inbox if you have the time :D**

* * *

"The fifteenth of autumn refers to the date of the Mid-Autumn Festival or, tsukimi, for Japan. The celebration is traditionally Chinese. The date on the lunar calendar corresponds to the fifteenth of September."

The vein on Nakamori-keibu's forehead twitched with every weightless word, and his sharp, dark gaze followed the sullen youth as he paced. Out of concern for the little girl dozing in the corner, the inspector did not growl.

Audibly, anyway.

Satou gritted her teeth and tried not to wince. "That's this Friday."

"'When the curtain falls' should refer to nightfall, which is between 8:00 and 9:00 o' clock. The "new moon" bit is the easiest. The black pearl on display at the Bell Tree Tower in Sameda, Tokyo ought to be his target." An cryptic, almost ironical smile curved at Edogawa Conan's lips. Only he understood the emphasis of his next words. " _Lycotonum_ , it's called in Greek. _Wolf's bane._ "

The focus of the room was on a different matter though.

The Bell Tree Tower. That meant only one thing.

"That jii-san's still at it," Nakamori-keibu stifled a curse under his breath.

Suzuki Jirokichi was still the source of many a headache to the hardworking officers of division two at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police, even at the age of eighty two. If anything, the old man was more and more eager to finally put Kid behind bars, once and for all.

"All in all it's an easy riddle. Kid must've wanted you to solve it quickly." Conan came to a complete stock still in front of Ran, sleeping in her seat. Gently, trying not to wake her, he scooped her up with one hand, and picked up her backpack with the other. Her head lolled to the side, tucked itself into his shoulder, and her little brows furrowed.

"Where are you going?" Satou interrupted sharply.

Conan stopped. For a moment he stood, unmoving. "Home."

"What do you mean, _home_? That heist is addressed to you, you can't just leave-"

"Not interested," Conan waved it away.

He promised _him_ he would stay away from _his_ heists. Conan knew he'd gone too far that one time, and, albeit a little grudgingly, accepted his rival's request. But it was a two way street. They had agreed not to meddle in each other's affairs.

"You're not interested?" Satou folded her arms, raised a perfectly arched eyebrow. "You, the _Kid killer,_ are not interested."

And now that Kaitou Kid was _inviting_ him back...well, it had to be for more than a congratulatory pat on the back. "The press hasn't called me that in a decade, Satou-keiji. And besides, I have more pressing matters to attend to at the moment." A slight inclination of the head indicated the six year old asleep in his arms.

Before he might have accepted without a care. He'd done that a lot in the ten years she's been gone, threw himself into each and every case as ruthlessly as if he had meant to be gambling with his life. Maybe he did mean it.

But now was different.

"Actually," Nakamori interrupted, dragging a hand across his face. "I was supposed to have dinner with my daughter and her b-uh- _friend_ and I'll need to head over to see them since I missed it. Besides, it's not like we can discuss anything without that jii-san around. However, Edogawa-kun-" He suppressed the urge to just call him _that brat_ , "Will have to be present at the heist. Kaitou Kid has a habit of wearing other people's faces. I want him there so I can personally make sure Kid doesn't wear his damn face." His fingers were already twitching with energy, just ready to tug at everyone's cheek.

Satou backed away warily, having heard from multiple people that _that hurt._

"Well?" Conan interrupted flatly, gaze flickering from one to the other. "Are we done here?"

" _Today."_ Nakamori-keibu fixed him with a glare.

Conan shrugged, neither an affirmation nor a refusal. Then he shouldered his own backpack and left.

In her seat, Satou sighed, and deflated.

* * *

" _Kaito!"_

" _Woah there-Nice to see you too. Jeez, you don't have to look so worried. It's just the police station."_

" _Baka." An affectionate swat. "Did you get the chance to leave the note or not?"_

" _Straight to business today, huh?"_

" _There's only so many times I can invite you in a row before Tou-san gets suspicious."_

" _He thinks we're dating."_

" _Which we are not!"_

" _My point is, he'll suspect the wrong thing anyway."_

 _A glare._

 _The glare intensified._

 _"Ok, ok fine. I left it with tantei-kun. It'll be fine. I even made the riddle easier than usual, since it's in two days. Damn, you're scary when you want to be."_

* * *

"Nii-chan?" Ran padded down the stairs, floundering a little in one of her giant shirts, biting her lip.

Conan looked up.

"I'm sorry," she said meekly, looking down, and at the same time he crossed the room and smoothed a hand over her dark hair with a frown.

"It's still wet." He scolded gently. "Come on. Upstairs."

Ran looked up with big, bright eyes. "I'm sorry for what happened with the-"

"Shhh." He knelt to be eye level with her. "It's Kid's fault anyway."

Softly. "But Nii-chan was angry…"

"Not with you." A pause. A bitter half smile. "Never with you."

Ran didn't know why Nii-chan almost never smiled, or why everyone seemed spooked when he did. She thought, privately, blushing to the roots of her hair (despite not knowing why) that Nii-chan looked rather nice when he smiled.

But beyond that, wearing a mask of smooth indifference, unmoved, and yet too foreboding to be at peace, he seemed almost...sad, somehow.

He never expressed it in any visible way, but Ran knew. Perhaps it was the sixth sense of a child, or perhaps something about the dark, sharp gaze screamed desperation rather than deadliness. Deep inside her, something ached faintly for him.

This time it was her fault though.

He sighed, fingers sifting absently through the ends of her hair. Then, gently. "I was just worried."

That was another point that caught her attention. Ran had learned to listen over the past week. There was rarely any particular inflection in the way Nii-chan spoke. The words poured forth, nonchalantly, cool. Cutting, when need be. They were as quiet as he was, as grave, as unfathomable.

But.

When he spoke to her it was as if he thought she would shatter at a single wrong word.

Something was welling inside Ran, something just skimming the surface. She didn't know what it was, not exactly. She couldn't wrap her head around it. Not while half asleep anyway.

"Let's go up," Conan said quietly.

Ran let Conan dry her hair, let him take her into his arms and carry her to bed. He let her down, brushed smooth fingertips over her cheek.

"Goodnight," she was about to say, but was interrupted by a yawn.

His gaze seemed to linger on her. He didn't smile-he didn't often-but his voice was thick with some sort of emotion. "Goodnight."

She rolled over happily, and promptly fell asleep.

Conan stayed, sitting at the edge of the bed.

Even after a week, he still didn't fully believe that she was really here. That she wouldn't disappear the second he let her out of his sight. Something about her, living, breathing, truly _her,_ mesmerized him.

It was part of the reason he had not made up a room for her yet. He hadn't let down his guard yet. Conan was still waiting-waiting for the world to be yanked from beneath his feet once more, waiting to be broken again.

A frown made its way onto his face when her brows furrowed and she turned in her sleep.

He didn't seem to remember Ran sleeping so restlessly the first time around.

Then again, whatever was hiding in her subconscious didn't manifest itself in her waking hours, so there was nowhere else for it to go, was there?

Something twisted in his chest, and he resisted the urge to smooth out her wrinkled brow.

Instead, he tucked the covers gently around her little shoulders and forced himself to get up and close the door to the bedroom. The walk back wasn't exhausting, but Conan needed time, preferably alone and without her head lolling against his shoulder, to think. So he trudged downstairs to the couch he'd been sleeping on for the last week or so, faintly acknowledging that he perhaps he ought to clear out another room, at least for himself, despite his misgivings.

Kaitou Kid personally invited him to a heist, and had been planning it for a while. Conan knew the other had police contacts. The timing was too impeccable for it not to have been specifically coordinated. And besides, he'd known it since the moment he realized which gem had been the target.

The "new moon."

Kaitou Kid went for large, mostly transparent jewels. Pearls did not often catch the interest of the thief, on the grounds that they were, first of all, as a general rule, not large enough, and second of all,opaque. Furthermore, the name of the gem itself was a clue.

 _Wolf's bane._

A poison used, once upon a time, to trick and kill wolves.

A heist in honor of his victory, indeed. First _Savior of the Japanese Police_ in his original body, then _Kid Killer_ as a child with an old soul, and now, _Silver Bullet_ , against his will.

The weapon he's _become_ to bring _them_ down.

And, like a bullet, only a shell was left behind. The rest of him had sparked and then burned in the fire, the ashes blown away by the wind.

After all, a bullet could only be used once.

Much like a poison-tipped arrow, he supposed.

Conan knew, beyond a doubt, that Kaitou Kid did not have any purpose at this heist other than speaking to him.

The question was, why? And why did the thief specifically ask him to bring Ran? The last line was scribbled on much later than the other pre-inked lines. Conan could tell by the way the edges of the letters were a little blurry, as if not having been quite dry when it was stuck into a tiny pocket by grubby little hands.

Conan's eyes narrowed marginally at the thought.

(Ran shouldn't have had to be the point of contact. Kid would pay for that.)

What then, was Kaitou Kid's purpose? Kid had not interacted extensively with Ran, before. He couldn't have known much about her. When he had pretended to be her, Conan had sniffed him out almost right away.

But.

Kid was his rival for a reason. What others had seen as creepy coincidence, Kid had no doubt seen as dots to connect.

 _Damn._

Perhaps, then, he did have to show at the heist after all. It would be an interesting change of pace at the least...and, at the most, perhaps he'd be able to get information out of Kid.

The sound of footsteps came from behind him. A shadow flitted past the wall. Conan's hand flew to the watch at his wrist. He didn't need the powered shoes to be a threat anymore, but the watch always came in handy. He held still for a moment, waiting, listening.

Then he turned on his heel.

But by then the blur had already shot across the room.

Arms wrapped around his legs and a tear-stained face was pressed into his trouser legs and dammit, she's crying, again.

He hated to see others crying. Hated to see _her_ crying especially. Always have, always will. Perhaps the one thing that rendered him helpless was her tears. Conan dropped to his knees, an overwhelming ache growing in his chest as she clutched at him with little hands.

" _...bad dream...woke up...dark...wasn't there…"_ was what he was able to make out of the half sob, half hiccup the little girl was repeating brokenly and he took her into his arms, pressed her small, trembling frame against him, whispered nonsensical words into her hair and wished he could hide her there forever, keep her from the things in the dark that caused her pain.

"Nii-chan…" her voice was incredibly small when she finally spoke again, willing her thin shoulders to still, though her teeth still worried at her lip.

"Ran?"

"I'm scared."

"...What did you dream of?"

She shook her head tearfully. "Don't remember." She did remember. Hallways. Moonlight pouring in through the window. Someone laughing. Pain, though she didn't know why. Horrible pain, like her very bones were melting-but she didn't know _why_ and it sounded silly to voice it out loud. "...Can you come upstairs?" She asked. Then, quietly added, again. "I'm scared…" A barely concealed shudder. "It's dark…" Her cheeks reddened a little, embarrassed. It was childish to be scared of the dark, wasn't it? "But...Nii-chan always feels safe..."

He bit back a sardonic laugh. Him, _safe_? Even from the beginning, he'd always been the echo of a shinigami. If danger accompanied his every step, death followed not far behind. Now, he was danger itself. Destroying _them_ had stripped him to the bone, bit by bit. Flesh was replaced by metal casing. He'd become _Silver Bullet_ rather than Kudou Shinichi, rather than even Edogawa Conan.

But maybe, just maybe, it took a monster to chase away the monsters under her bed.

Conan allowed himself to be tugged up the stairs, allowed her to drag him into his room and nudge him onto the bed, allowed her to press herself into his side, draw the covers up around them again.

He closed his eyes.

He hadn't been able to protect her against real evils-hadn't been able to protect her any step along the way, had allowed her to suffer in _their_ hands. But now, now she was here, she was safe, nestled in his arms and he would never let anyone touch her again.

"Silly Conan-nii-chan," The girl in his arms mumbled, squirmed a little as she reached up. "You shouldn't wear your glasses when you sleep. You'll get headaches-"

By reflex he stopped her, grabbed her hands before they could wrap around the black frame of his glasses.

She blinked up at him with large eyes, lashes still wet from her crying fit earlier.

There was a reason he never took them off.

At first it was a precaution-there was no way to make him appear any less like Kudou Shinichi at night, when he was asleep, and he didn't want to risk anyone thinking the wrong thing. Then it became a reminder. A reminder that this was wrong, that this body was the root of everything bad that had happened to those he loved. A reminder of who's fault it was, who he had to destroy. That he had only one purpose.

He supposed now that that purpose had been fulfilled there wasn't a point anymore.

Slowly, he slid the glasses down his nose, watched her face intently for any sign of recognition.

Confusion flashed faintly in her eyes. But then she smiled. "Nii-chan looks really different without glasses."

Something hardened and sank in his chest. All of it, gone, just like that? Fifteen years together, erased. The memories he'd held on to in his darkest moments, the memories that kept him going, the reminder of the girl he loved that forced air into his lungs when he wanted desperately to just _stop._

It was all gone.

But she was still here.

The expression on his face, vague as it was, softened. "Go to sleep. You have class tomorrow."

"Ne, Nii-chan…" the little girl lay back down obligingly, "Can you sing a song for me?"

There had been a melody stuck in her head, cloudy as if she'd heard it in a distant dream, and her thoughts went round and round in it, spinning.

"A...song?" A wry smile. She really did remember nothing, then. Not even his terrible voice, which she teased him about relentless as Shinichi and as Conan.

"Mmmhmm!" Her eyes sparkled in the dark.

"And what," he sucked in a breath. Perhaps he could pass it off if he was quiet enough. "Would you like to hear?"

"I...don't know…" Confusion flashed in her eyes again. Then her face split into a smile as bright as the sun. "It goes like this!"

She hummed and he froze, for what seemed like an eternity.

Then, wounding an arm protectively around his little charge, he whisper-sang the verses of _Nanatsu no Ko_ softly under his breath.


	9. Chapter 8

**A/N: GUYS THIS IS 5.7K WORDS HOLY CRAP I HAVE NEVER WRITTEN A CHAPTER THIS LONG. After such a long wait, the heist chapter~ This was super hard to write, and I'm not sure all the things I wanted to touch on were in here. It was a bit chaotic to plan, and even more chaotic to execute! I just kept deleting and rewriting and deleting again :P Until something came out and I figured I ought to update haha. No spoilers though :D you'll just have to see for yourself how it plays out~**

 **Please drop a review in the box! Authoress worked super hard on this one!**

* * *

 _Friday_ crept up on them.

He hadn't realized how long, how slow and tedious time had passed until they flew by. Before, an hour was forever and a day. But now he lost track of the minutes,

"Conan-nii-chan?" She had stared up at him with wide eyes, little face filled with something like excitement as they walked home that day. "Are we going to go see Satou-oneesan and the loud scary oji-san today?"

He'd blinked at her, and then realized what she'd meant.

Well.

Conan hadn't initially wanted to comply and bring Ran with him. After all, he still didn't know why Kid specifically wanted to talk to him, or why he'd taken an interest in her. But Haibara was out with the professor, and there was no way he was going to leave Ran with the any of the others, or alone.

So away they went to the heist, after he'd dropped off her little backpack and picked up some essentials. It was colder now. The autumn chill was setting in firmly, and some sort of rainstorm had stopped in town. He'd wordlessly bundled her up in at least three layers. If there was to be any rooftop talks today, he was going to make sure she wasn't going to freeze.

It was odd, how everything fell into place. It had been a long time since he had to care for anyone, even himself, and Conan readily admitted he was rusty. But he swore to himself that this time he would protect her. This time, he would be her shield against the world.

If anyone thought it strange that a teenager with a little girl hoisted over his shoulder was ducking under police tape without any sort of credentials, the boy's flat glare dispelled their curious looks. The woman in charge of making sure he was not in disguise wilted a little under his glare, but tugged hard on his cheek anyway.

Ran watched curiously, giggling from her perch. He grunted, rubbing his sore cheek, and moved on. Dread was beginning to seep into his stomach and he held himself taut, tight, tense.

Nakamori-keibu didn't say much, just a grumbled acknowledgement and an order to stay where he was. Nakamori-keibu was not the man he was dreading.

"Ah! If it isn't chibi-chan!" The high-pitched female voice drifted in from out of nowhere.

He didn't turn his head to acknowledge her. "Kyogoku-san."

Part of the reason he had stopped attending Kid heists was the way the newly married Suzuki heiress got on his nerves. Before, when he had Ran, it was tolerable. But then, then Sonoko's unending cheerfulness became exhausting. It annoyed him. The Black Organization had ripped the sun from his sky, toppled the very balance of his earth, and here she was, chattering away like nothing was wrong.

(Maybe he hated her, just a little, for moving on. For being able to move on.)

"Mou, you're making me sound old. It's _Sonoko-nee-chan_ , brat! And who's this little tyke?"Sonoko wove around, inquisitive gaze searching.

He was taller than her again, and she had to look up. Conan sighed, and waited.

Sonoko sucked in a breath.

For a moment no one spoke. And then, the inevitable.

"...Ra...n?"

Ran blinked back at the oneesan. "Do I know you, Nee-san?"

"...N-no," Sonoko sucked in another breath, blinking. "You just...you uh...happen to look like someone I kno-knew. My best friend, actually." Her gaze flickered momentarily to Conan, something like panicked confusion in her eyes.

He didn't respond, didn't even look at her.

"Uh...I'm...Sonoko. Kyogoku Sonoko."

"Nice to meet you, Sonoko-nee-chan! You seem to know my name already…"

"Ran?" Sonoko mouthed at Conan, eyebrows lifting into her hairline. "Did...did your nee-chan have a sister or something?"

Well. Better than suspecting that she was her own daughter, he supposed.

"...but...Oji-san and Oba-san never got back together..."

Once again, Conan said nothing.

"Sonoko," Suzuki Jirokichi called from across the room. "It's about to begin."

"Ah, I'm coming, Oji-sama!" The woman called over her shoulder, then turned to glare at Conan, jabbing a finger at him. "You _will_ explain to me _exactly_ what is going on." Her gaze flickered to the little girl on his shoulders, and she smiled, briefly. "Bye, Ran-chan."

"Bye, Sonoko-nee-chan!"

Then she turned on her heel and stalked away.

Maybe it was paranoia, or maybe it was the way he had lived all these years, the way secrets had been carved into his bones. Now that there was no one to keep secrets from, he found that he was hoarding them for himself. He wouldn't deny or confirm her suspicions. Should she find out, and should her suspicions lead her to conviction, well, that was none of his business. He made no effort to purposely conceal or reveal who Ran was. Perhaps it would be better if people didn't know. Ran would doubtlessly be frightened by the overwhelming expectation people around her are going to have once they found out she was alive.

Officers filed one by one into the elevator. It was nearing 8:30, half an hour into the expected timeframe, and the sunlight falling through the windows was purpling. It was nearly time, that much was clear for anyone to see. Police hurried to their stations, and the crowd outside went wild. Conan followed Nakamori-keibu into the exhibition hall.

 _Wolf's Bane_ was not the typical object of a Kid heist, and anyone could tell. Like other valuables before it, the pearl had been sealed in a secure container, guarded by at least four officers at all times. Some hidden mechanism was probably in place as well, considering that it was Suzuki Jirokichi and he had too much money, and in Conan's opinion, too much time.

Conan suspected Kid had made the riddle easy on purpose, if only to get him there. However, it also put the police on high alert. Nakamori-keibu had worked with Kid long enough to know something was up.

That meant, to get Conan alone, there'll have to be a _show._

He lifted Ran off his shoulders, holding her up in his arms instead. "Grab on tight and don't let go for any reason."

She nodded, all seriousness.

After all, things tended to blow up around Kaitou Kid, if the thief hadn't changed his ways in the years they had not met.

The light falling through the window was waning with every minute. Officers grew tenser and tenser with the tick of the clock.

Every second could be _the_ second. They were running out of time-

 _"Ladies and gentleman!"_

Someone shouted in alarm and then suddenly the lights sparked and died, plunging the hall in darkness.

A smirk lifted at Conan's lips.

 _It's begun._

Something hissed in the dark, and he pressed Ran's face into his chest, covering his own face with his sleeve.

The silence was occasionally accented with soft thuds as officers slumped to the floor.

"...You can breathe now, Tantei-kun."

"Same old tricks, I see."

The air was unnaturally sweet.

"What can I say?" Kaitou Kid emerged from the cloud of smoke, removing the gas mask from his face. Almost as if on cue, select lights came back on, glowing dimly.

Auxiliary lights?

"Nothing works quite as well as knock-out gas. Or as fast." The phantom thief had not changed significantly since the last time Conan had saw him. Perhaps he filled his suit a little better, but the same cocky grin was plastered on his face, and the same messy locks shadowed his eyes.

After all it had been ten years. _Only_ ten years, even though to Conan it seemed more like an eternity. Purgatory without end.

"Skip the pleasantries. Let's get to the point."

"Succinct as always."

"I have better things to do. And besides, you don't want me at your heist any longer than necessary."

"Relax, Tantei-kun. _They_ ought not be here tonight." A pause. Then the smirk reaffirmed itself on his face. "So hand _it_ over."

Silence. Then a short chuckle. Ran turned her large eyes to him, startled, as he reached into his jacket and drew something from the dark, tossing it away from him.

The gun spun across the floor, stopping at a lighted spot on the carpet.

Ran's eyes widened even more.

Kid tsked. "I thought we had an agreement."

"We did," Conan intoned, turning his flat gaze ahead. "You asked me not to come to heists armed, so I stopped coming. Your end of the bargain, on the other hand, doesn't appear to be upheld. I told you not to pry into my business. Yet here we are. This is not a real heist. And I doubt you called me here for simple congratulations."

"...In an official capacity, this is still my gig, so I would appreciate it if there wasn't gunfire. But, you are right. I wasn't really interested in the pearl. It seems your skill hasn't diminished one bit, tantei-kun."

"So." Conan neglected to acknowledge Kid. "What did you have to say to me?"

Ran watched the two go back and forth. Somehow both of them seemed familiar-in a different capacity than just as "the people she knew." Something resonated in her in the distant past, something from before-but before what, exactly?

"I wanted to ask you about the science labs in the headquarters you busted," for once, Kid cut straight to the point, without preamble. Perhaps, he too, sensed Conan's growing impatience.

This, however, did pique his interest. "And what kind of data are you after?"

"Research. Documentation."

"Of?"

"...Anything about a stone called Pandora?"

"No. You're still looking for that? After all these years?"

Haibara had gotten a copy of those files while one of the officers wasn't looking and she had pored over it, especially after they found Ran. He had seen the data himself, though he had not kept a particular eye on the thing Kid was searching for. There was nothing about any "Pandora." In Conan's opinion, the stone was just a fanciful tale. He hadn't thought it was really important.

"How about artificial immortality?" Kid's gaze was not on Conan when he said this. Instead, it settled on the dark-haired girl in his arms.

Conan scowled.

Ran blinked between the two of them.

" _Don't_ bring her into this." The narrowed eyes held fire, and she _knew_.

For some reason she'd become the center of the world for this terrifying, towering boy she called "big brother," even though he didn't seem to particularly care for anything or anyone else.

What she didn't know was _why._

"Come on, Tantei-kun. Do you think I'm stupid? The elusive Edogawa Conan picks up a little shadow from a crime scene. Someone was bound to talk."

"...So you do have police assets."

"I don't go into these things completely blind. Besides, you haven't exactly made it hard, taking her with you to the station all this week. I popped in just once. The physical similarities were enough to convince me that perhaps this warranted looking into."

Conan gritted his teeth. "Why are you so sure?"

"I know you, Tantei-kun. You wouldn't tolerate her if she was just a look alike."

A long pause.

"So. You've backed me into a corner," Moonlight caught on the lenses of the boy's glasses, refracting, obscured his eyes, and his voice was deceptively light. "I would suggest you think very carefully about what you plan on doing next."

Kid snorted. "Oh, come on. I don't plan on being a threat. I happen to like living, thank you very much."

A puff of smoke erupted suddenly at Conan's feet. The teenager cursed, pivoted on his heel to try to turn away, too late.

When the smoke cleared, Ran found herself perched in a different set of arms entirely. She turned, ever so slowly, with large, frightened eyes-only to encounter a familiar face.

"Hi," Kid grinned at her. "Remember me?"

"...Kaito...nii-chan?"

"What the hell are you playing at, Kid?"

"Whoa-easy now, tantei-kun. None of your hellish soccer balls. I just wanted a look."

"It's ok, Conan-nii-chan! Kaito-nii-chan's nice!"

"K-Kaitou- _nii-chan?_ Kid, you give her back right now or I _swear to god-_ "

" I just want to know what you know."

Conan peered at the face of the man-once a boy-through his bangs, seething.

"Tantei-kun, please. Those crows have got to disappear. You and I both know that ten years is too long to waste on this."

But he did know, didn't he? This body was proof, the weight of the glasses on his nose, the weight of the souls of the dead sitting heavy on his chest.

Kir. Akai. Even Ran, before now.

"...Fine." They developed a drug that used to be used to kill people without a trace. Its rare side effect was making a person shrink. De-aging them, for lack of a better word. Does that satisfy you?"

"Not yet, but-"

The sound died as something shifted in the dark, and Conan turned, half a second late in noticing. Kid had already moved almost instinctively, hunched forward over Ran.

The crack of a gunshot registered in Conan's ears and panic flared in him for a brief moment.

 _Shit._

They had company.

Kid swore under his breath, hissing as blood stained his jacket where the hang glider was attached to his cape. Slowly, he turned toward the darkness. The usual smirk tugged at his lips, more grimace than smirk now. "I had hoped you wouldn't show today. You've never been interested in opaque jewelry."

The figure emerged from the shadows.

Conan's eyes narrowed. His gaze flickered to the gun on the floor and his fingers twitched at his soccer ball-inflating belt.

 _Snake._

His lackeys appeared behind him. Conan could count the muzzles, all pointed toward them.

Their leader inclined his head at Conan. "Get rid of him."

Two men in black came toward him. Even before he'd known what he was doing, he'd stunned one, side-stepped and kneed the other in stomach almost mechanically.

Snake's attention had drifted.

Kid clenched his jaw, calling clearly into the hall. "I'm going to guess you're not here for the jewel, huh?" Over his shoulder, he caught Conan's eye. Ran was folded against him, trembling a little as she pressed her face into her arms.

"Quick, as always." The man in black smiled sardonically. Again, he cocked his gun, gesturing toward Kid's cape, now with a streak of red running down the side. "But not quick enough, it seems."

"What made you decide to do the dirty work yourself?" Kid inched forward minisculely, trying to ignore the pain in his shoulder as he nudged Ran forward toward Conan, toward safety. _Not yet,_ his eyes warned the other boy. _Not yet_. "You've not had qualms about hired guns before."

"I wanted results. And besides, it's much better this way, _boy_. I killed the first Kid. It only makes sense to kill you too."

"Need I remind you that you've already tried and failed, twice?"

All eyes were on Kid, and the thief had drawn his cape over Ran in an effort to conceal her, but his stalling had worked. They were a distance away from the firing squad now, and he had his back turned to them, shielding the little girl in his arms.

"Oh but there won't be any games this time. I'm tired of playing."

Conan gritted his teeth so hard he might have ground them to dust, melted into the shadows to bide his time. Ran was quivering under the cape and the same fear rose in him. He had to get her back, and get her out of here.

The muzzle was pointed directly toward the center of Kid's chest now. "Are you ready to die, Kaitou Kid?"

"Unfortunately for you," Kid smirked. "I was just about to call it a night."

Snake growled and fired. Faster than light, Kid twisted and stepped out of the way. The edge of the cape floated away and a little chestnut head popped out.

 _Now._

Something crackled, fizzed and popped and the lights came back on at full force, blindingly bright. Smoke erupted over the floor again and one second Kid was there and the next second he was gone.

"Damn-"

The only thing Conan could hear was gunfire and he ducked instinctively out of the way, throwing an arm over his eyes to ease his eyes back to being used to the light. He squinted in the smoke even as he tucked himself behind a pillar, looking for Kid-no, looking for _her_ -

But the smoke was clearing too fast and he could catch the flicker of white in the corner of his eye, which meant that the others could too.

"Over there!"

Shit. She was going to be in their direct line of fire if this kept up.

Conan pressed down on his belt and aimed the ball at the figures in the clearing smoke, split-second decision made as he kicked and dashed forward.

"Kid," he called out, even as he picked up the weapon the man had dropped when he fell to the floor. "Get her out of here."

A flash of white near the ceiling, and the sound of shattering glass told Conan that the thief got the message.

He cocked the pistol in his hand. There were a few rounds left.

Time to put it to good use.

* * *

"Kaito-nii-" The girl cut herself off with a frightened squeak as he crashed through the window. He tucked her further into his arms, tried to shield her from the falling glass.

Dammit. _Dammit dammit dammit._

He'd tried to get as high as possible so he could fly over the crowd but there was no way he would be able to take off at this vantage point. Tantei-kun could hold them off only so long. He had to move.

"Hold on, Ran-chan."

"But Conan-nii-chan-" the girl's eyes were filled with tears but here was no time, so he swept her up and maneuvered himself onto a window ledge.

'll go back to get him as soon as I drop you off somewhere safe," Kaito promised through gritted teeth, swinging from one window ledge to the next with his free hand. She grabbed on to him, the innate fear of heights settling in her bones.

Something flashed at them from above. He could tell the tell-tale whir of a helicopter and Kaito cursed again.

The goddamn press. He could hear the running commentary and had no doubt that he was on live news right now. On any other day, he wouldn't mind half as much but today, today he had dragged in a bystander. He wasn't sure if there would be danger should Ran's face get plastered all over the news-but he got the feeling Tantei-kun wouldn't appreciate it.

Now he couldn't very well leave her in the crowd either, not when she was barely taller than three feet and the crowd was as good as rioting below them. He swung upward a few more window ledges, mentally calculating in his head.

If he could start just a little higher he could launch and aim for the canopy of trees in the distance, the park just a few blocks over.

But that made doubling back a little troubling. Leaving Ran-chan alone in a park didn't sound like a good idea. He had to land close enough to be able to go back and get Tantei-kun, and then hopefully give the little girl back to her guardian.

Something shattered above him with a resounding crack and he cursed as glass fell, twisting aside to avoid it.

Below, the crowd screamed at the gunshot.

Ran clutched desperately at his sleeve, whimpering.

Dammit. He should've jammed the elevator or barricaded the staircase or _something._

"You think you can get away that easily?" Snake's face appeared in the hole at the window.

Kaito cursed as the other man shot again, barely missing his fingers this time, and moved to rest against another ledge.

This time the bullet was aimed at his feet. His grasp loosened as he tried to regain his balance and Ran slipped a little, wrapping her little arms around his waist, holding on for dear life.

Snake cursed and leaned, half out the window, to get a better shot.

If this kept up they would both die. He gritted his teeth.

It was now or never.

A glance down confirmed that he had gotten high enough.

Ran's eyes widened as he let go of the ledge, balancing for a singular second, only on the balls of his feet. For a moment it was like she was already falling, but then his hands were tucked around her short, stubby body, and they stood stock still at the side of a skyscraper.

 _"Trust me."_

That smile. She'd seen that smile somewhere before. Something grew in her stomach, dread or terror or longing, she didn't know, couldn't decipher, couldn't comprehend in this body at this moment in time.

They lingered a second longer, swaying to the wind. And then Ran screamed as he plunged forward and they plummeted toward the ground. She screamed and screamed as the ground fell away from beneath her and the center of her world was sent spinning, spinning, spinning-she almost remembered this, almost remembered this feeling, this oppressive thing pushing down on her chest, making it hard to breathe-

Something flashed dimly in the back of her mind-maybe it was a museum on fire and sunflowers, or maybe it was driving an airplane to the ground-a sense of deja vu, almost, but it wasn't quite the same-

The wind knocked the wind out of her, knocked any coherent thought out of mind, and her eyes slid shut, hands uncurling as the wind tore at her, howled in her ear, and she thought she might die like this if air didn't re-enter her lungs.

Above her, he cursed and pulled at his hang glider.

Then they were pulling away, further and further from the ground, and she could breathe-

"Ran-chan? Ran-chan, are you ok?" A voice sounded in her ear-familiar, so familiar, but why? where?

"Just Ran…" she mumbled, unaware of the words tumbling out of her mouth as the last of her consciousness slipped away. "...I wanna hear Ran, Shin…"

Kaito cursed as the girl's head lolled against his arm.

 _Sorry Tantei-kun. I think you'd agree with me if I put her safety first._

He leaned to the left, a definitive course on his mind.

Tantei-kun was going to hate it, but here wasn't much choice.

* * *

Nakamori-keibu came to with a curse, sat up, and found a boy peering at him through glinting glasses.

Blood was pouring from the tear on his suit jacket, and he was nursing a black eye. If Nakamori-keibu had not just woken up from a drug-induced nap, he would've backed away. The way Conan looked now, wiping blood from the corner of his mouth almost daintily, eyes ablaze, the teenager appeared feral, like some wild animal that had been let out of its cage. Something akin to a chill came over Nakamori-keibu, and he climbed to his feet.

Around them, police officers and spectators alike were starting to come awake.

"Where's Kid?"

"Gone," was the quiet reply.

The inspector looked around him, a little incredulous. "What happened here?"

"Firefight."

"But Kid doesn't use-"

"No," the boy said. "He doesn't."Blue-eyed gaze flickered to side momentarily, just the fraction of a second, but Nakamori-keibu got it.

Half shrouded in shadow, three men, unconscious, bruised and bloodied, stacked next to each other, had been secured to a boulder by what appeared to be suspenders.

Jesus. He'd heard Edogawa Conan was effective, but he would've never imagined _this_. Nakamori swallowed. "I'll get you an ambulance."

"No."

"Excuse me?"

"I don't want an ambulance." Conan stared up at Nakamori, never breaking eye contact as he slowly got to his feet. "I want Kid."

For a moment Nakamori-keibu just stared, slack-jawed. The words hadn't really registered in his head. Not yet.

Then, almost as if on cue, his phone started ringing. He pulled it out of his pocket, stared at it for a moment, blinking.

Blocked number.

That could only mean…

Edogawa Conan took the phone from him casually.

"Kid."

The confused chatter from the crowd around them died down as the cheery voice popped out of the receiver.

"Tantei-kun. I assume you got out alright."

Conan answered with a grunt. "Ran?"

"She's alright. Asleep."

"Where are you?"

"...A magician never reveals his secrets, Tantei-kun."

Conan asked flatly, with no preamble whatsoever. "Is this a kidnapping?"

"Easy, easy. I swear, you'll pop a vein before you even turn twenty. She'll be safer here for now. I don't think they're tracking me but just in case, I don't want to lead them right back to you. Though they may be onto you anyway."

"Snake ran after you and didn't reappear. I've got his lackeys in custody."

"With any luck, they were too busy with me to notice that you're..well, _you_. In any case. It's not safe right now. I'll call you later, shall I?"

"Kid-"

The line went dead and Conan cursed loudly. He would've thrown the phone too, had it not been Nakamori-keibu's. Instead, he shoved the thing back into the older man's hands almost violently, stalking away.

"Chibi-chan!" Sonoko, who had regained her sense rather quickly, called after the boy, "It'll be ok. Ran-chan's with Kid-sama. She'll be safe. Are you sure you don't want an ambulance-"

"I'm fine." Returned the boy icily.

Sonoko fell silent and stepped away.

"Oh. Nakamori-keibu."

Nakamori raised an eyebrow, not knowing why he was suddenly addressed. There were more important things to deal with at the moment than a hot-tempered teenager.

"Those three," Conan nudged the unconscious pile with his foot, "Need to be transferred immediately. Call Satou-keiji. Tell her we caught three more crows."

Then the boy turned on his heel and left.

Nakamori narrowed his eyes at the retreating figure, then sighed, and rubbed at his eyes.

Dammit.

There was so much work to be done.

* * *

He was able to make out the faint edges of her figure through the window, curled up in the chair by the desk, blanket half falling out of her lap. The small TV was still on, though it mostly crackled static now, casting light on her face.

Gritting his teeth, he shifted Ran to his other arm, balancing on his heels on her windowsill as he pushed the glass, stepping inside.

Aoko seemed to stir awake, sitting up straighter, watching him with clear, cool eyes as she reached over to turn on a desk lamp. Conversationally, she began, turning off the television. "You know, I didn't know that Kaitou Kid _kidnaps children_ now."

That's what she had been watching. The news.

Still, something akin to pain shot through him.

In his defense, he'd been wandering outside for hours now, trying to determine if he had a tail, and only when he was certain it was absolutely safe did he come to her, and the sheer doubt in her question hurt him, just a little.

"Really?" His voice was flat and he turned, stared at her through narrowed eyes. " _Really?"_ Limbs drawn taut, he stepped away. "I didn't exactly have a choice. _They_ were there. Snake pulled a gun."

That seemed to stop her in her tracks. Her jaw slacked. "...Oh."

He swept past her, laying the unconscious child in his arms on her bed.

She drifted to the window, pulling it closed a little guiltily.

Kaito slumped into the chair at her desk, peeling off his gloves and pulling glumly at the debris caught in his singed suit jacket.

Neither looked at the other.

"...I'm sorry." She began. "I didn't think-"

"No," he agreed, a little too quickly, "You didn't."

Aoko deflated.

He sighed, and ran a hand through his hair. "I can't blame you for not trusting me. I'll admit it, I screwed up first. But I swore I wouldn't lie to you again." Kaito looked up to level his gaze with hers. "And I haven't broken that promise in the six years since you found out. I won't say I deserve it-because this _is_ my fault-but you have to give me a little credit-"

"I believe you," she interrupted, clasping his hands in hers and looking away.

Silence sat between them a moment longer.

And then.

"Ahouko." he admonished gently, surging to his feet and pulling her to him.

"'M sorry. I wasn't thinking. I know you wouldn't do that." She buried her face into his shoulder, took in the smell of dust and smoke and wrapped her arms around him, only to draw back, eyes wide.

"What?" He asked, face almost mirroring hers, in shock at least.

"You're bleeding."

Half a beat late, he looked at himself. "Oh." Kaito remarked, blinking. "I am."

"You're an idiot," it was Aoko's turn to scold, as she turned to get the emergency kit kept handy in her desk drawer..

"I know, I know." The corners of his lips lifted in a tired grin. "Can you patch me up? And maybe help me get the stains out?"

"You should just wear a red suit instead," she grumbled, deft fingers moving to undo his cape.

"But I don't look half as good in red!"

"...I'm not even going to answer that."

"...Aoko?"

"Hmm?"

"What are we going to do with her?"

She sighed, gaze flickering to the small figure tucked under the covers, still sleeping soundly. "She can stay here. I'll come up with something to tell the neighbors, but you ought to return her as soon as you can."

He gave her a grateful smile. "Thanks. Can I stay the night too? The busted shoulder is really not conducive to flying."

"Course. There's the sofa in the living room."

"You take the sofa. I'll sleep on the floor."

"...I suppose that might be better. I was planning on staying with her but...I'd imagine you'll have some explaining to do when she wakes up. After all, finding yourself in a stranger's apartment without anyone you know is bound to be terrifying." She pulled the bandages she'd been wrapping around his shoulder tight, tied the knot. "There. You're all done. What would you do without me?"

"Glad I didn't have to find out."

"Go to bed, idiot. I'm gonna go soak this in a tub of soap water."

She turned and disappeared out the door, leaving him alone with the sleeping child curled up in the bed. The room was suddenly filled with silence and he was able to discern that the girl was mumbling now, incoherently whispering into the pillow as she tossed and turned. Her slumber was not peaceful. Small, white-knuckled hands gripped at the covers, and her brows were furrowed. She seemed pained, and Kaito was at a loss as to what to do.

What would tantei-kun have done in this scenario?

He blamed himself, partially. If he hadn't been so intent on jostling something, anything out of Conan, little Ran wouldn't have gotten involved.

Long, pale fingers reached hesitantly toward the child, brushed back her bangs.

"-S-h-"

He froze.

"Shi-n-"

Kaito sucked in a breath.

He had entertained the notion all this time, believed deep down, though he had not consciously acknowledged it, because the idea was ludicrous. He had not ruled out the impossible, because in his book, impossible didn't exist. But now...now…

"Shin.. _.ichi_ …"

Now he was absolutely, positively _sure._

* * *

He stared for the longest time at the phone, almost glaring at it, half shrouded in the dark, as if it offended him simply by existing.

Maybe it did. Maybe he should've thrown it away instead of holding on to it, hoping one day the impossible would happen and it would ring for him again.

Funnily enough, in his wildest dreams the voice on the other end was always hers. And now, ten years down the line, he had to call someone else.

Conan closed his eyes and inhaled.

Then he dialed.

 _Ring._

 _Ring._

 _"I don't know how you got this phone, but it's not funny, whoever you are. I'm busy."_

 _"_ I need your help."

 _"...Kudou? Kudou!"_

"Take the earliest train to Tokyo." Without letting the speaker on the other side get in another word, he hung up.


	10. Chapter 9

**A/N: Whooo it's been 4 weeks. Sorry? School's kindaaa been kicking my butt. Honestly thank y'all so much for sticking with me (even though I"ve been terrible about updating haha every time I see a "new follower" notification my heart rate just spikes cause gOTTA UPDATE)**

 **Guys, I promise, I am going to GET THROUGH THIS AND FINISH IT SO DON'T YOU EVEN WORRY, I AIN'T ABANDONING SHIP EVER.**

 **As proven by a 4.5k chapter. Seriously. What happened to the days when my chapters were like, 1.3 k words? Lots to cover this chapter. The formidable east and west duo is back, and there's also a focus on KaiAo. Ten years really can do a lot to people.**

 **Anyway, if you liked it, please drop a review in the box~ It makes the authoress happy (and motivated) lol**

* * *

Something pressed down heavily on his arm, then there came a frantic drumming of feet against the floorboards.

Kaito groaned and turned onto his side."Five more minutes."

A small finger jabbed into his rib.

He cracked open an eye cautiously.

"Kaito-nii-chan…" Sleep made her large eyes droopy but she was definitely awake. "Why are you in my room?"

The girl seemed to comprehend her own words before he did, and he watched her eyes widen almost comically as she realized that her surroundings were, in fact, _not_ her room.

Bright, big eyes turned back to stare at him. She stood completely still, with a statue-like posture and complete mastery of her limbs,uncanny in a child of her age.

Though, he remembered, faintly, perhaps she was not a child of her age after all.

"I get it," Proclaimed the little girl-Ran, though it seemed weird to call her that. When he'd been at the police station he'd merely read her name upside down in squiggly letters from her homework. At the time he'd attached no special significance to it, though he wasn't blind. He figured it must've been nostalgia or something similar, a physical manifestation of Tantei-kun's regrets come back to haunt him. But now, it was different. Now, her name held different meaning.

"Get what?" He managed to say, pushing himself up on his elbows, feeling his bones crack. Damn. He really needed to invest in a cot. Ten years down the road, though as a magician, he paid a great deal of attention to maintenance, he had to admit that he wasn't really as springy as he had been as a teenager. Though where to put the cot was another thing entirely, since Aoko's apartment was so itty bitty. She didn't like "the batcave," (artfully dubbed by herself), though, said the place gave her the creeps. He was unsurprised, considering how much she'd been terrified of ghosts.

Still, she'd come, after the fallout. She'd come and she'd sit, silent, for hours on end. He hadn't been sure whether she'd been afraid of the dark or of him then.

"It's a dream," Ran pronounced seriously, startling him out of his thoughts.

Kaito raised an eyebrow. "Is it now?"

Of course, given the theory that this was really _her-_ shrunk, by that drug Tantei-kun had called APTX...he'd have to have Jii-chan look that up too-he'd considered that maybe, just maybe, Mouri Ran had been faking the amnesia. For what reason, he hadn't picked out, but he assumed it would've had something to do with Tantei-kun. Now, though, it appeared as if she really thought she was just a child, too.

"Mmmhmm." Ran was very determined. "Shiratori-sensei says when we think about something a lot during the day, we dream about it."

"...So all you think about all day is an itty bitty apartment complex?"

She shook her head, leveling a glare at him. "Not that!" A pause. The expression on her face melted into one of disappointment, and she pouted. "Since this is a dream anyway...I know Kaito-nii-chan from somewhere, don't I?"

Oh yeah. Speaking of. He was going to have to reconcile the fact that she left with Kaitou Kid and now she was here, huh? "About that-"

"Not just at the police station either. From _before_."

He paused at that. "Before what?"

The girl gestured at her head. "Before this."

Before the start of her now very regrettably short memory, then. "...Why do you think so?"

"Because!" She insisted, then stopped as she realized. "I don't know. I just know."

Kaito bit his lip.

Mouri Ran had been in contact with Kaitou Kid frequently. The daughter of a detective and best friend of Suzuki Sonoko, she'd been at nine out of ten heists. But he'd kept his identity from those closest to him-from even Aoko-for years. There was no way she would've been able to tell just from what few encounters they'd had.

That left only one option.

Slowly, he lifted his hands to his hair. Smoothing down half of it with his palm while leaving the rest sticking out in every which direction, he looked up again.

Ran stared.

He'd worn Kudou Shinichi's face many times before. He had the detective down to the cowlick.

"Is this-"

"Your eyes." Her voice was still high pitched, but the tone and her words was anything but childlike.

"...What?"

"Your eyes are the wrong shade."

"Wrong shade for who?"

"I...don't know…" She was visibly distressed, but couldn't seem to tear her gaze away, and her eyebrows scrunched up. Her hands flew toward her head, fingers tangling in her hair. Tears sprung into her eyes, welling. "I don't know. I don't know. I don't-"

The door opened.

"Good morning-" The cheerful sound died in Aoko's throat, and she whacked Kaito in the good shoulder.

"Ow!" he complained, tipping over.

"I said _explain_ , not make her cry!" The woman stepped over him carelessly, glaring. Then, transformed into the paragon of patience and kindness, "You're ok. You're ok. Kaito's just a baka." Another glare.

Jeez. Unfair.

"S'Ok," Ran sniffed a little, allowing herself to be fussed over as Aoko wiped the tears on her little face away with handkerchief conjured magically from nothing. "S'Not Kaito-nii-chan's fault."

"Sorry," Kaito scratched his head. He hadn't really expected the child to have such an adverse reaction…After all, it seemed like Ran had remembered Kudou, at least subconsciously...

"You're an idiot," Aoko informed him again.

Kaito pouted. "Yeah, yeah."

Her brows furrowed at the lack of a smart remark. "Did I get your bad shoulder accidentally?" Already, her fingers were brushing over his arm.

"I'm fine," he promised, and pretended not to notice how she'd pinked slightly at the extent of her own concern.

"...In any case, I've made pancakes. You two can have breakfast, and then you can take her home."

"Actually," Kaito cut in quickly. "Before that."

This gave her reason to pause, and she raised an eyebrow. "...Kaito?"

"I have to take her to Jii-chan."

"...for what?"

"...Some tests. I'll tell you when I'm sure."

"But-"

"Aoko, I know I promised no more secrets...but...this one isn't mine to tell."

She didn't speak.

"...Can you trust me?" The question fell from his lips and he hated that he asked it, hated how he'd needed to ask it. Hated how he felt as vulnerable as the very first he'd asked it every single time. It's been six years, but it still felt like he didn't deserve the answer, somehow.

She sighed, and answered, as she always did. "With my life."

A pause.

"Thank you."

The sound of a stomach growling. Aoko turned around.

Ran grinned sheepishly. "Your pancakes smell really nice, Nee-chan. Even if they are just part of my dream."

Aoko laughed. "A dream?"

Ran nodded solemnly. "A dream."

"Well then. My name's Aoko. What's yours?"

"My name is Ran! Nice to meet you, Aoko-nee-chan!"

And he was aware of the question he'd just raised-after all, Ran lived with Tantei-kun. If Tantei-kun didn't look like himself, Kaito didn't know who would. So why hadn't Ran been reminded of Kudou as consciously as she had been, first at the heist, and then here, but not before?

Kaito had never really been one to ponder ceaselessly things he had no control over. He would make a point to call Jii-chan later, and call tantei-kun once he got his hands on another burner phone. For now, though he allowed himself to be distracted by homemade pancakes (delicious!).

Across the table, Aoko caught his eye, and smiled.

Really. He didn't know how he used to do this without her.

* * *

The train came to a complete stop, knocking his face against the glass.

Not really the best way to wake up. He needed coffee, and he needed it fast. Stupid Kudou, dragging him all the way out there this early. Were there any cafes even open at this hour in the morning?

Stifling a yawn, he stepped out onto the deserted platform.

Really didn't know what he was expecting there.

Hopefully there was at least taxi service. Did Kudou even still live at the old mansion?

Ten years. Ten years of radio silence, and when that was finally broken, all he got was a four word phone call.

Dammit.

He rounded the corner, stepped out of the station, and was confronted with the sight of a yellow bug parked by the street.

The window rolled down.

"Hattori-kun." An even female voice, familiar in tone and inflection, came from the driver's seat. Haibara Ai leaned out the window, strawberry blonde hair the same length, carefully trimmed.

It was almost creepy how she was exactly like the little girl he remembered from ten years ago, just sort of...stretched. It was different in her case. Heiji had never known her as anything other than a child, so it was a little strange.

"...The little-nee-chan."

"Long time no see, Hattori-kun." Even the eerie not-quite smile was the same.

"You too." The whole thing was surreal somehow. He almost never went to Tokyo after the incident. There wasn't really reason to, and he certainly never expected to be coming back to...well, this. He'd dropped his stuff off in the back and climbed into the passenger seat when he finally realized. "...Where's the professor?"

"At home, in bed." A pause. And then a faint smirk. "I don't actually have a license yet, but you know, I am _technically_ twenty eight."

He shrugged. "I'd trust you driving more than Kudou at this hour in the morning."

"I never sleep anyway."

"...Please tell me that means you have some damn good coffee."

"I've got a pot. Foresaw the necessity. You've been busy lately, Hattori-kun." Her gaze flickered momentarily to the gold band on his left hand.

"News travels fast." Kudou really could not have picked a worse time. His mother was going to kill him, not to mention his fiancee. The very thought sent shivers down his spine.

"So it does. Congratulations."

"Thanks."

A pause.

"So." He cleared his throat awkwardly.

"Edogawa-kun didn't tell me why he called for your help. I wasn't informed that you would arrive until this morning. But. I suspect it may have something to do with this." This time, her gaze did not leave the road, but she inclined her head ever so slightly toward the glove box.

Heiji leaned forward, and pulled out the stack of papers stashed there. His breath caught in his chest.

" _Oi, oi-_ "

"I'm a scientist, Hattori-kun. The numbers don't lie."

"But this...this isn't possible."

"You know, they never did find a body." Haibara remarked, almost conversationally, as she turned a corner.

Heiji stared for a long time. "It was that warehouse then? The one that was all over the news a couple of days ago. That was them." He swallowed. " I was going to congratulate you but…" But he'd looked down at Kudou's contact, buried at the bottom of his phone, and lost courage.

It would've seemed mocking anyhow. He didn't know why he hadn't deleted it over all these years-after all, he'd lost hope that there was ever going to be a call.

"I think we both know what Edogawa-kun's bottom line is." Haibara remarked lightly, as if she wasn't fazed at all. "And I think we both know how he gets when someone crosses that line."

"...What happened to her? Wait-don't tell me," Flipping the papers to the right page, he squinted at the lines, "-that weird drug you developed?"

"Yes. Though they've modified it, so it is technically no longer mine."

"...Kudou must have lost his shit."

"You would do well not to use that name, Hattori-kun."

"Why?"

"Because Kudou Shinichi is gone, just as Miyano Shiho is gone. These ten years have not been kind. He is no longer the same as before."

"I don't know about that," Heiji grumbled. "Seems to me he's always been a petulant brat."

"You'd be surprised."

"Not pleasantly, I take it? Come on. _Edogawa Conan_ , or whichever stupid name he's going by now, can't be _that_ bad."

Haibara smiled. "I'm glad you have so much faith." A pause. "You'll need it."

They pulled into the driveway at the Kudou Mansion.

Ten years since he'd been anywhere near the place, and it looked about just as old. The windows were drawn closed, there was dust on the windowsills, and the garden was unkempt. It looked deserted. No, not even that. It looked _haunted._

Heiji stepped out of the car.

Haibara did not follow.

"You're not coming?"

"I have tests to run, Hattori-kun. I'm in no mood to be dealing with, as you so elegantly put it, Edogawa-kun's shit."

"...See ya later, little nee-chan."

"I'll remind you I'm technically older than you." With that, Haibara rolled up the window and drove down to the professor's, just next door.

Heiji went up the front steps, but before he could even raise his hand to knock, the door had been pulled open.

"K-Kudou."

Damn his goddamn mouth. Literally just stuff his foot in it.

In his defense, it would be hard for anyone who knew not to slip.

 _Conan_ glared at him, through the glasses, but he looked like the Kudou Shinichi that had been plastered all over the papers a decade ago, looked like the same brilliant, cocky boy who had disappeared into the shadows, only sharper, somehow, more like...well, more like a weapon, than a boy, really.

"Hattori."

It was like they only just became connected-Conan and this boy-this teenager with a mind as old as Heiji's-melded together, but it wasn't quite Kudou, wasn't quite the same. Something had changed in the eyes, half-hidden behind lenses of the glasses that were now a permanent part of his identity, something fundamentally wrong even just to look at. The feeling caught in Heiji's chest, beat against his ribcage, pushed him to speak.

"Ten years." He found himself saying, anger rising in him as he realized that it really had been that long.

Conan waited, arms folded. The sheer lack of emotion was irritating.

"It's been ten years." Gray eyes met blue ones. His hands balled into fists at his side, shaking. All those years finding himself glancing at a contact at the bottom of his phone, wondering if his friend was dead or alive. Conan managed to stop caring. He didn't.

Conan's lips flattened into a thin line. "I didn't ask you here in all haste to waste time."

" _What the hell were you thinking?"_

A coolly raised eyebrow. "Are you quite finished-"

Before Heiji even had time to think about it, his fist had connected with the smooth underside of the teenager's jaw.

Conan dropped like a ton of bricks, soundless except for the sharp intake of air on impact.

Heiji froze. And stared.

The boy sat on the front steps of the house, just breathing.

And it was-wrong. Wronger than anything that Heiji had already witnessed.

The way he sat, noiseless and expressionless until he could school himself, until his breathing evened out again, and he was able to regard Heiji with sharp eyes clear of pain-it was painful to watch, almost.

"Are you quite finished?" The boy asked again, peering up through dark lashes, as calmly as the first time he had stated the question.

Heiji reached for him. Wanted to say something because he had expected pigheaded stubbornness, he had expected overwhelming grief, but he had never expected-well, _this_.

His fingers grasped at the air and he let his arm drop to his side again, biting down on the inside of his cheek. "Fine. What've you got for me?"

* * *

Somehow, a short walk to Jii-chan's stretched into a few hours of hiding from the rain. Kaito should've seen it coming. He and Aoko had had arguments over when to have the heist-because reportedly there would be thunderstorms around this time frame, and Aoko hadn't wanted him to be caught out in the rain.

Had it been only the two of them, Kaito and Aoko could've gone on. But Ran, for reasons unexplainable to everyone, was terrified of thunder. Which was how they ended up in a shopping mall on Saturday during rush hour. At least the cheesy music covered up the rolling storm outside.

Aoko went altogether _too overboard._

"Look! Isn't this cute?"

"...Aoko…"

"Oh! This too!"

" _Aoko…"_

"And this is adorable-sorry! I know you don't like fish, but they're just so-"

"Aoko, can you even afford all that?"

"Yep!" Aoko grinned. "I just got promoted."

"Wait-you got _promoted?_ When? Why?"

"No thanks to you, Bakaito," Aoko stuck her tongue out, still holding the (Kaito shuddered to think of it) large blue and orange goldfish bow next to Ran's head and trying to decide if it was cuter than the pink one. "Akiyama-san's leaving the force. That, and my breakthrough from a couple of years ago, you know, the one where I nearly caught you?"

"The worst day of my life, where I had to stand on the edge of a rooftop for two hours and tell you everything, while it was snowing, wondering whether or not you were going to murder me?"

"Shush. It's Bakaito's fault anyway. They reviewed my resume and thought I would be better used as an analyst, so I'm going to go work with Hakuba-kun."

"Hmm. No more tackling me on the job, huh? Too bad." He skillfully ducked around Aoko, grabbing little Ran's hand. "It was the highlight of my day."

Aoko was sufficiently distracted with blushing to the roots of her hair, and Kaito was able to steer her and Ran toward the counter, where he proceeded to pay for everything himself anyway.

"I figured Tantei-kun deserves something as an apology," He shrugged, upon her questioning gaze. Though he still made her handle everything and anything goldfish-related. The thunderstorm outside seemed to be ongoing, and Ran was starting to complain that her feet were getting tired, so they went and found a resting area, where Aoko and Ran proceeded to sit while Kaito found the nearest electronics store and bought a phone to call aforementioned overprotective detective.

Hopefully Tantei-kun hadn't begun to exact revenge yet. He might not have had any concrete evidence, but Kaito would come under suspicion again if the infamous high school detective was so positive that he knew the identity of Kaitou Kid. It was generally annoying to dispel suspicions, especially of people around him. It made Aoko have to lie more than she was comfortable with, anyhow.

Tantei-kun picked up on the second ring.

" _...Well?"_ Came the unforgiving voice.

"Jeez. Cold."

" _I'm in no mood for your games, Kaitou Kid."_

"Probably don't have the time for that, huh? Busy tearing apart Bell Tree Tower for evidence?"

" _Worried?"_

"I have enough faith in you to hope that you remember who the _real_ enemy is. I hope you have enough faith in me."

" _...I just want Ran back."_

Kaito shrugged. "Sorry. We're stalled out here. It's raining. As soon as possible though, I'll return her to you."

A pause _. "Thunderstorm?"_

He grinned. "So the little ojou-chan's been like this since _before,_ huh?"

The scowl from the other end of the line was almost audible. " _None of your business. What are you doing in that part of Tokyo?"_

Damn. Should've remembered that that brat was a detective.

"The same as you, I would assume, Tantei-kun. I'm looking for answers. Though I'll admit, this is raising more questions."

" _What do you mean?"_

He'd debated whether or not to say this, for many reasons. He didn't want to give Conan hope, and he also didn't want to end up dead in a ditch if it happened to be just a blip, an outlier that could not be counted on. "...She said your name in her sleep. Not this one. Your _real_ name." Kaito spared a glance at where Aoko and Ran were sitting. They were caught up in conversation with a kindly old lady and didn't seem to pay him any mind. "It must've been the flying that jolted her memory...though you'll recall, that time at the sunflower museum wasn't exactly you."

Silence on the other end.

"Tantei-kun?"

Nothing.

God. Did he finally break the infamous detective of the east?

Then the dial tone sounded in his ears.

Kaito cursed.

Not the most gentlemanly thing, he'd readily admit it.

But. After a week of planning, a week as Kaitou Kid living in the skin of Kuroba Kaito instead of the other way around-well, he was tired.

After ten years, he was tired.

So he supposed he understood how Tantei-kun felt after all.

Aoko was red-faced again when he walked back toward the two of them, pocketing the burner. He'd have to get rid of that later too.

"Storm's passed," she said, though she wouldn't look at him.

He raised an eyebrow. "What's up?"

"Nothing."

The old lady who he'd spotted before poked her head back. "And you must be the husband." A sideways glance at Aoko, whose efforts to control the blush spreading across her face was failing miserably, "Goodness, I thought young people these days were supposed to be bold."

Kaito put on a flawless smile, for reasons that he couldn't really explain. "I suppose so, Obaa-san."

"I was only pointing out that your child is adorable-quite like the mother. A happy little family." The little grandmother cooed at Ran, still seated, and half asleep. Then turned to Aoko. "I'd cherish it, ojou-san."

They stood side by side a moment, watching the obaa-san as she walked away. Like a real, happy family, just for a second.

"...You didn't deny it."

"Hmm?"

Aoko looked up at him. "You didn't deny it."

"...Was there a necessity to?"

"No-" She cut herself off, looked away again. "No."

He cleared his throat, fiddled with their bags.

"...Kaito…"

"You don't have to."

" _Kaito._ "

"I just…" Kaito looked to her with pleading eyes, "I _wish_..."

"Me too," She offered quietly, with great difficulty, "But you know that's not…"

"-possible." He finished for her, gritting his teeth and closing his eyes. "Yeah. I know. It can't-" Subconsciously, his fist had clenched into the plastic of the bag, and he willed it to loosen. "It doesn't matter."

She didn't speak anymore.

Sometimes he really did hate being Kaitou Kid.

Was this how his father felt in the final months of his life? That this spectre in white, as unattainable by the person who plays its part as those who watch the show, would take and take and take, until everything was gone, and he became nothing but The Act?

Dropping down to the level of the child, he poked Ran's cheek.

She woke, blinking, and his heart twisted because it wasn't hard to imagine, because Ran really did look so much like Aoko-

"C'mon," With infinite tenderness, he lifted her up and hoisted her over his shoulder. "Let's get you to Jii-chan's. Then we can get you home."

* * *

"If I'd known you only wanted me for my shiny credentials," Heiji huffed, "I wouldn't have come at all."

"It's your own fault for carrying your badge on _leave_." Conan snorted.

"It's not my fault I run into murders on a daily basis. Besides, this isn't even within my jurisdiction."

"When you're the son of a police chief, it can be."

"Thought you weren't into the whole 'using power to get places' deal."

"Guess you don't know me that well," was the nonchalant answer.

Tch. Kids these days...

Heiji pinched the bridge of his nose and wondered if he really was getting old. "That old man won't be happy that we're getting our mitts over his crime scene though."

"Nakamori-keibu? He's used to it."

"You haven't been at a Kid heist in _years_."

"It doesn't really matter, does it?"

"Didn't you get rid of that organization?"

"Crime networks aren't ever gone completely. With its main branch out of play, I had hoped their activities would be limited, but we all knew they would never just disappear. And besides," A sharp grin. "We don't even know that this is the same crime network. Which is why our next stop is the police station. There, at least, I'll have no need of your credentials."

"...I want in anyway."

"...Suit yourself."

Heiji rolled his eyes at the other one's tone. He hadn't quite figured out how to handle Edogawa Conan yet. After all, it'd taken him a while to figure Kudou Shinichi out, before.

But.

They'd fallen into something not exactly familiar, but not altogether different. A middle ground, so to speak. A gap bridged, at least while they worked together.

Just like old times, then.

Heiji grinned, reached up for the hat he'd been wearing all morning, and twisted it around.


	11. Chapter 10

**A/N: It's been...ok, definitely more than four weeks. I apologize, but in my defense, I took two standardized tests, finished a class, watched a figure skating anime, did a DC secret santa and started like, four aus (which should trickle in as they get finished). And also this is like, 4.8 k of update lol. Full of plotty goodness! Again, if you need a sign that I ain't giving up on this, the word count (and going off the deep end w/ the plot) is the sign haha**

 **Now that apologies are out of the way: let's get on to thank yous! As of right now, I'm sitting on 100 reviews, 99 faves and 153 follows. Holy heck you guys! How did this happen? I love you, you're aWESOME AND I'M LITERALLY GOING TO CRY. Should I be doing some kind of milestone event for this? Is that a thing that people do? Do I even have time to be doing one of those? haha idek, we'll see, we'll see~**

 **As always, if you liked it, pls drop a review in the box. The authoress thrives on those~**

* * *

"Kaito-botchama! And Aoko-san!"

"Hullo, Jii-chan!"

She could read the words in flashing neon signs on the front when they came in. The Blue Parrot. It wasn't too big, but it was foreign, nonetheless, and Ran shrank behind Aoko-neechan's legs, peering from her vantage point with large eyes. The older gentleman they were supposed to be meeting looked confused. Kaito-niichan shrugged, and grinned.

"Kaito-botchama...what…?"

Instead of answering the unspoken question, Kaito-niichan dropped to his knees. She noticed that he did it a lot, to be eye-level with her, which felt a little strange and out of place. She supposed it was because Conan-niichan didn't bend down as much?

"Hey. This is Jii-chan. He's nice. Kind of like my grandfather."

Ran tilted her head. Her gaze flickered up to the old man, as if unsure, and then down again.

"It's ok. He won't hurt you."

She nodded. It wasn't that the Ojii-san was frightening, necessarily. But her surroundings, the Ojii-san...It all reminded her of something she couldn't quite put her finger on. Something that made her heart jump and her skin crawl.

"We'd like to do a blood test," Kaito-niichan was saying.

"But-"

"I know, Jii-chan. I said I'd try to do these things less." He glanced at Aoko-neechan, "But this is important. I have a hunch."

"...Very well, Kaito-botchama. Allow me a moment to prepare."

Aoko-neechan tugged gently at Ran's hand. "Come on. Up you go." And then she was lifted up onto a chair. Glass glittered in her peripheral, dangling from the small chandeliers above the bar. She blinked a little, as the pale light fell through the window and caught it in just the right way.

Something felt similar. There was that sense of deja vu again, as though if she just closed her eyes she could _hear it..._

"We're ready."

The Ojii-san and Kaito-niichan reemerged. Ran snapped to attention again. Tension coiled tight in her bones. Something was definitely wrong.

"I'm not going to make you do anything you don't want to do." Kaito-niichan didn't have to drop to his knees this time. "But it would help alot if you could."

Ran bit her lip, considered the syringe in the Ojii-san's hands. She could say no. She could leave, right now. _But._ There was that sense of _wrongness_ again, something that prickled just beneath the surface. She wanted to know, didn't she? There was something unmistakably familiar about this, something that drew her in like moths to a flame. Ran _needed_ to know. If this told her who she was….if it even gave her a hint…

"...will you tell me what's wrong with me?"

Kaito-niichan looks startled for a moment. Then he composes himself. "Of course."

"Then I'll do it, Nii-chan."

Kaito-niichan smiled. He looked tired. So tired. Kind of like Conan-nii-chan, if his eyes weren't the wrong shade. Kind of like someone else, too, someone she couldn't name but knew, from the twist in her chest, that she wanted to.

"You're brave, Ran-chan. Don't worry. It won't hurt. Jii-chan's very good."

"Hold still, Ojou-chan," The Ojii-san said. "And relax your arm."

Ran did as she was told, inhaling deeply through her nose.

Kaito-niichan was right. It didn't hurt. It barely even stung.

She closed her eyes, tried to ground herself-but beads of sweat were already forming on her brow. Something was welling in her that she couldn't hold back. Her heart stuttered, off rhythm, in her chest.

The needle pulled out of her skin and warm blood flowed onto her palm-she gasped.

The glass chandelier tinkled.

Something hazy and far away began to take form in her mind.

Voices.

Darkness.

Pain.

" _What are you doing?"_

" _Testing." A monotone voice. Everything's bright except for the shadows in her peripheral vision. Her throat was dry, ached from the sobs._

" _...that's enough. She won't be able to…"_

" _You said yourself the boss doesn't care if she lives or dies." The voice interrupted, clearly amused. "What's the matter, Vermouth? Don't tell me you care."_

 _A scoff. "Remember your place. I don't have to answer to you. The boss sent me. The plan has changed. She's compatible."_

" _...the drug?"_

" _Yes."_

" _You have it?"_

" _..."_

 _Something comes into view, arcs in a spray over her. A low chuckle. "Damn. I've never seen this in person."_

" _And you wouldn't have, if time wasn't of the essence. We're flying her over to headquarters immediately."_

" _...Looks like you lucked out, didn't you?" Rough fingers pinched her cheek. She had to bite her lip to keep from crying._

" _Kilju."_

" _Fine, fine." A pause. "The boss must be desperate."_

" _The others are turning up nothing. This is the better alternative."_

 _Snorting."I personally don't think the Pandora even exists. If we could just get our hands-"_

" _Now, now, Kilju. I'm sure the boss knows what's best."_

" _...In a hurry?" A smirk._

" _So perceptive."_

 _A scowl. "Fine."_

 _Something drove itself into her forearm, close to her wrist. She wanted to scream but her voice was hoarse, and struggling against the restraints that tied her down to the gurney did nothing. It hurt, more than it should considering what they'd been doing to her before._

 _She was on fire._

" _...transfer the samples...we need to…"_

 _Footsteps. Tears were running down her cheeks. It hurt, god, it hurt._

" _I'm sorry." Someone blocked the light directly above her. Green eyes. A cool hand was touching her cheek. "So sorry."_

 _Her vision was blurring. Something like glass was tinkling. The vials-the vials of her blood-_

" _Goodnight, Angel."_

"-Ran-chan!"

She gasped and her eyes fluttered open.

"Are you okay, Ran-chan?" Aoko-neechan...but Aoko-neechan looked familiar...Too familiar…

"I'm fine," She reassured the others, and nearly toppled off the bar table when she realized she was still sitting on it. Dizzy. She was dizzy. Somehow it was like she'd shrunk while she was there. The feeling was...uncomfortable. Everything was disorienting and the tinkling glass chandelier grated on her nerves.

She could feel Kaito-niichan's gaze burning holes in the back of her skull.

"I'd…I'd like to go home now. It was fun but…" Ran trailed off, lifted her head as she hugged herself.

An intense longing was growing in her chest, even as her little shoulders shivered a little. Kaito and Aoko were nice but she wanted to feel _safe_ again. She wanted to find Sh-

Conan. Conan-niichan. Yes. That's who she wanted to find. A sense of loss resonated in her when she thought of...what was she thinking of? Who? It was as if there was a hole that she needed to fill...someone that she desperately needed to remember...it was the feeling that she felt immediately after the rush of freedom that first day the police had come to rescue her, that something, someone important was _missing_ , a feeling that only went away when...

Kaito-niichan seemed to understand. He caught Aoko-neechan's eye across the room. "We'll go by glider. It'll be faster."

It wasn't raining anymore. The world still spun. Ran stubbornly kept her eyes open. She wanted to be awake when they got there. She wanted to see if the feeling would go away, like the last time. The lights weren't on at the Kudou Mansion when they arrived. Kaito-niichan frowned at the gate when no one answered the buzz of the doorbell. Ran's heart sank a little. She knew that Conan-niichan often stayed at the station. Maybe he was caught up in some kind of work.

Kaito-niichan seemed to sense her disappointment. He led her to the house beside the Kudou Mansion instead.

The doorbell rang three times, and then the door was pulled open.

A young woman was standing in the light. Familiar dark reddish brown hair cropped short, gray eyes piercing.

She stared for a long while, and raised an eyebrow. "Kaitou Kid." And then her gaze traveled downward, toward the little girl still being led by the hand.

Ran didn't shrink away, though. She knew the nee-chan from the police station, she recalled. That first night. Arms around her when all she wanted to do was go home, even though by all rights she didn't even know what home was anymore.

The girl bent down. Again, Ran was faced with the discomfort that gnawed away at her, screaming that this was somehow wrong. "Ran-chan. Remember me?"

"...Ai-neechan," the little one affirmed. Ran's hand slipped from Kaito-niichan's, and she stepped into the doorway, already reaching.

Sharp gray eyes returned to Kaito-niichan's face even as Ai-neechan's fingers brushed across her wrist, where the band-aid was. "You have a lot of explaining to do, Kid-san." A pause as her eyes narrowed. "I hope you understand that we don't take this sort of thing lightly."

"So I do," Kaito-niichan agreed, face grim.

Ran didn't understand the tension brewing in the air.

Ai-neechan stared, long and hard, at the other man. Then, briskly: "Come in."

The door closed behind them and Ran found herself in the living room. She had yet to set foot in this house, she knew. Ai-neechan had taken her home that first day, after everything had faded away, but when she'd woken up she was with Conan-niichan.

The couch was still exactly where she thought it would be.

"Ai-kun?" The door to the basement-how did she know it was the door to the basement?-opened, and a round old man stepped out. He stilled at the top of the stairs behind him, staring with wide eyes at her.

" It's fine, Hakase," Ai-neechan tilted her head by way of acknowledgement, already making her way to the little kitchenette to make coffee. "I can handle our visitors."

The professor nodded, seeming a little dazed, and disappeared behind the door again.

Ran was sat down on the sofa beside Ai-neechan. Discomfort was growing inside her again. "Ai-neechan, where is Conan-niichan?"

"He's on a case," was the older girl's reply, and again, Ran couldn't shake the feeling of having heard that before. "I texted. He's on his way back." Ai-neechan looked away. "But you," She leaned toward Ran again, and, in an uncharacteristically gentle way, booped the child's nose. "You have to go to bed soon. Can you wash up by yourself?"

Ran knew how to do a lot of things that other children her age didn't. Living with Conan-niichan had only enforced that habit. She could tell that the older boy cared for her with great attention and detail, but clumsily. It was alright; she didn't mind. Ran nodded at Ai-neechan's question.

"The bathroom's up the stairs to the left. Toiletries should be in the drawer."

Ran disappeared up the stairs, leaving the two adults to stare at each other.

"We have some time before Edogawa-kun gets back," She spoke first, breaking the silence. "Explain."

If the phantom thief had no useful explanation for why he drew Ran's blood...well. She was the one that was raised since birth from a criminal organization. Edogawa-kun may be sharp, but he was not the one to fear here.

Across the table, Kaitou Kid seemed to have determined something. "Haibara-san-Miyano-san?"

"I prefer Haibara nowadays." A darker look. "Though it appears I am at a disadvantage, Kaitou Kid-san. You know both of my identities."

"Haibara-san-"

Haibara put up a hand. "I've no interest in what you do outside of your night job. What I do want to know is what you want with Ran-chan."

"I had no choice in taking her away from the heist."

"We both know that's not what I'm talking about." Still in her labcoat and running on three hours of sleep, Haibara managed to look intimidatingly unimpressed.

"...I had a sneaking suspicion."

"About?"

Kaito bit his lip. "Be honest with me. I know Tantei-kun certainly seems to think so, and the signs are all there, but is the ojou-chan really Mouri Ran?"

"...And if she was?"

"If she was, then I would like to know what they did to her to make it so that she's been seven years old for ten years. Shrinking is one thing. Stopping the physical act of aging is another."

"...Kid-san, do you know something that I don't?" Haibara's eyes were narrowed again. They had always known that Kaitou Kid was more than his apparent intentions and flashy showmanship, had thought it possible to gather something from Kid's heists, even, once upon a time. It seemed the other man had been as busy as they were in the last ten years.

Kaito seemed to consider. "What if I told you I know why they did this to Ran-chan?"

Haibara raised an eyebrow, perfectly arched.

"Are we going to be frank with each other, Haibara-san?"

Just each other, huh? She folded her arms. "Do you want my word?"

"If you'd please."

"What if I don't want yours?"

Kaito fixed her with a look.

Haibara sighed and conceded. "An enemy of the enemy is my friend, I suppose." Kid had no real intention to harm. At least, that was what they believed. Haibara didn't answer to her reluctant partner in all things Black Organization. If she wanted to know, even just to satisfy her scientific curiosity, she was going to know.

Edogawa-kun didn't have to approve.

"Thank you." A pause. " You're a lot less difficult."

 _Than him._ The last bit went unsaid.

Haibara smiled, indiscernible emotion in her eyes. "We've both changed. Not always for the better. Now. I was promised a story."

Kaitou Kid sighed. "I've told this story twice in two days. You may find it a little hard to believe."

"I'm twenty eight years old and I'm still going to high school. I think 'hard to believe' is an understatement."

Kaito tried again. "Were you familiar with a stone? When you were in the organization?"

"...a stone?" A pause. Understanding flitted into her face even as her brow furrowed. "A gem?"

"Something called Pandora. There's no scientific proof but... _they_ seem to be convinced that the jewel cries every ten thousand years, and the tears would make the possessor of the jewel immortal. And...an organization like that, they don't make mistakes like using imperfect poisons to kill people."

Haibara got what he was getting at. She frowned. "The apotoxin, you mean? Even then...they were interested in the side effects?"

Kaito nodded. "Even before it was on the table, they'd been searching for something else. There's no reason to believe they wouldn't"

She had known her fair share of impossible things, but a jewel that cries tears of immortality? "We don't even know that the organizations are indeed, one and the same, Kid-san."

"No, but I can't think of any other reason why they would keep Mouri Ran alive."

Haibara bit her lip. She'd suspected as much from her work. Pouring over Ran's samples had been educational, even though the records of the science she and Edogawa-kun had wheedled out of Takagi-keiji reconstructed pitifully little. She wasn't stupid. Ran had been used as as a test subject. "So, if your conjectures are correct, they kept her alive because they succeeded?"

"Most likely."

"...Are _you_ looking for Pandora, Kid-san?" Hawk-like eyes trained on the other man's face.

"I aim to get there before they do." A pause, then a sardonic smile. "That is, if it even exists."

"And what do you plan on doing when you find it?"

"Destroy it."

"Oh?" her lip curved into a smirk that she didn't quite mean. "A treasure like that? You'd destroy it?"

"Haibara-san, I think you know better than anyone else that immortality is anything but." Kaito looked tired, then. A reflection of her own exhaustion, staring back at her. "I just want to retire."

She considered him for a moment then tilted her head. "Very well. And Ran?"

"If they managed to scientifically engineer some sort of replica, maybe I can use the chemical properties to seek out my next target. I don't intend to harm Ran-chan. Nor will I disclose who and what she is to anyone else."

"Full anonymity then?"

"For both sides," he confirmed.

Behind them, the grandfather clock at the base of the stairs struck.

" _He'll_ be here to pick her up soon." Haibara got to her feet. "You'd best be going." They gravitated toward the door. Haibara stopped, chewing her lip. "Kid-san. Your analyst."

"Yes?"

"Is he good?"

"I trust him."

Haibara considered the history of the drug. Her parents had worked hard on it, and when they died, she was elected the carrier of their legacy. She developed it, close to perfection. A weapon to kill, the organization had said. No one said anything about sustaining life. No one said anything about a magical gem, or the reversal of someone's entire life.

Even though the men in black were jailed now, would be put away for good this time, she still couldn't help but shudder.

But she wasn't that frightened girl of eighteen stuck in a child's body anymore.

Ran had protected her back then. This time, it was her turn.

"...Have him send me the results. I engineered the drug. Picking out the new components should go faster."

"Haibara-san…"

"Edogawa-kun can be pigheaded at times. Especially now. He's not capable of objectivity at this point. It's too personal for him. He doesn't trust you." A pause. "I don't trust you. But if it gets me a step closer to reversing the drug then I'll work with you. I don't have the equipment necessary here, and getting results can take a long time. This is an arrangement that benefits both of us."

"...and...her memories, Haibara-san?"

"Another thing that I hope to uncover. Well, Kaitou Kid-san? Do we have a deal?"

Kaito stood for half a second, gaze searching. And then he reached out and shook her hand. "Very well, Haibara-san. Someone will be in touch shortly."

"Ai-neechan," Softly padding footsteps and the equally childish voice startled both of them as Ran came down from the top of the stairs. "Is Kaito-niichan leaving?"

"Yes," Haibara managed to answer. It was still strange. She never looked at Ran with quite as much astonishment as Edogawa-kun had. But the knowledge that this child in front of her was once the woman she had privately, subconsciously, even, deemed her onee-san, was too ironic, even for her.

Ran nodded, waved goodbye gently.

Kid tipped his hat ever so subtly. When Haibara turned to the door again, the thief was gone.

Ran giggled. "Kaito-niichan's a magician."

 _Kaito, huh?_

Instead of voicing her doubts, Haibara turned her attention back to the small girl in her custody.

* * *

"I don't know why you thought they'd talk." Heiji was suffering a severe lack of both sleep and coffee. Not a happy place.

They'd gotten to the Tokyo police station and then the lengthy day of interrogation began. The organization's higher ups were dead ends. For all intents and purposes, they might have just been dead, with the almost smug silence that had permeated the air.

Really, Heiji hadn't really known why Conan thought the two organizations were connected to begin with. Though he saw the logic behind it at one point, the evidence now was...disjointed, somehow.

A walk through the archives had been much more informative. Heiji wasn't exactly sure that what the receptionist was doing was legal, per se, but he himself had bended those rules as a private detective in his teenage years, and so he didn't say anything. Besides, he didn't blame the poor woman. Conan's mood grew more and more foul as the search progressed.

In fact, the teenager was shooting him a glare now.

He didn't really have any reason to be particularly petulant, except for the fact that investigation was leading nowhere. Or perhaps he was as lacking in coffee as Heiji was. Either one, really.

Scientific gibberish was not usually what he comprehended and so going through the information had been slow. Of the organization's records (that were not destroyed before they came into police hands or lost in the fire that burned down its headquarters), there was very little about anything concerning the mysterious red jewel called Pandora, for which Heiji had been put on the search for.

A few hours of that and it was dark already.

He was too damn old for this. "Fine, fine. Do what you want. Though, why didn't you start with her?" he jerked his head toward the door. "She seems like the one most likely to talk."

"They won't let me see her anymore."

Heiji raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"He put a bullet in the wall," A woman's voice came from behind them.

"Ah! Satou-san!" Heiji was definitely not ignoring the weird part of what she just said.

"Hattori-kun," The older woman acknowledged, coming to a stop. "Fancy bumping into you here. Aren't you based in Osaka?"

"It's all Ku-uh, Conan-kun's fault. He dragged me all the way to Tokyo for a case."

Satou's gaze flickered between the two of them, suspicion and good humor mixing all at once. She was a police detective for a reason, always rather sharp. "Well, you were always thick as thieves before. Anything I could help you with?"

"No," Conan said, altogether too quick and too curt.

A habit he'd picked up, perhaps? Heiji tried not to be bitter, but once in awhile he couldn't help it. Conan had grown good at shutting people out over the years.

He was about to say something when the phone rang.

Conan's cell. Whoever on the other side must have been important. Heiji watched as the other boy's face softened from whatever antagonistic thing it had twisted itself into only seconds prior.

"Well?" He prompted.

"Haibara," Conan said, by way of acknowledgement. "Kid brought Ran home."

That did pique his interest.

Until now, the Nee-chan being alive, much less shrunk with amnesia, had not really solidified itself as a possibility in his head. It was too strange to think about-to reorient himself in this way, to recreate the image of a person he'd crossed off as dead, ten years ago.

They'd all made their peace with it, really. It was hard, in the beginning. Ran was a bright person, something so dazzling and wonderful that it almost hurt to look at her. But it was for that same reason that they had to move on. Nee-chan wouldn't want it like this, he'd often told Kazuha. It was true.

True for everyone but Conan, anyway.

Kazuha cried for weeks afterward. Heiji admitted to shedding a few tears of his own. But they continued living.

Conan-no, _Kudou'_ s world stopped spinning altogether.

"I'm going," Conan said, to no one in particular, and turned on his heel.

Heiji had to scramble to follow.

A cab was hailed. Conan said little to nothing on the way, left Heiji to twiddle his thumbs in the adjacent seat. Then he practically leaped out of the car upon arrival, and Heiji had to foot the fare. Again he found himself questioning why he had such troublesome friends.

That was when his phone buzzed and he realized that he had an even more troublesome fiancé.

He'd seen the professor's house in the morning, when the little nee-chan had driven him there, so he lingered at the gate while Conan went up the steps, knocking on the door, and went through his texts.

Eight out of ten were pure insults. The other two were reminders from his mother to at least bring back some of that family formula curry for Toyama-san to make up for disappearing, and a rescheduling of his suit fitting.

Damn.

Conan and the little nee-chan exchanged terse words on the doorstep, even more hushed because a small, already dozing figure was being passed between their hands. Conan didn't look pleased.

Heiji wasn't sure whether he ought to ask, since any kind of confidence between them was newfound and tentative. It was like the beginning all over again, before trust had been forged due to necessity, except this time, threatening to tell Nee-chan would have absolutely no effect.

Conan's walk back to the gate was brisk.

The little girl in his arms stirred a little.

Heiji caught himself staring.

It was...disarming, to say the least. Something jumped in him because-well, he hadn't seen that face in years. They'd never really been too close even before her death, but it was still weird to see Nee-chan's face on a child.

A child that was currently nuzzling into Conan's arms like it was nothing.

Heiji had barely gotten Conan to talk to him in ten years, and Ran did in a couple of weeks.

"...Conan-niichan?"

"Hmm?" The teen still didn't have much of an expression-but his gaze was softer, anyone with eyes would be able to tell.

Ran blinked up at him sleepily. "Who's that?"

"...An old friend."

Hold up.

She didn't remember?

Heiji threw a questioning look to the teen.

 _Not now,_ Conan's gaze said.

Tomorrow then. Heiji vowed to himself, even as he looked up nearby hotels on his phone as they walked toward the Kudou house. He'd missed the last train out of Tokyo. He didn't have to check the schedule to know that.

"Are you coming, Hattori?"

He looked up from his phone. "Eh?"

"We have some empty rooms. They won't be made up but it's probably not ideal to have to find a place to stay at this hour." Conan shrugged.

"Oh." Heiji found himself saying. "Oh."

Conan rolled his eyes and ushered the "older" man inside.

* * *

" _Guess who I met at the station today?"_

" _Edogawa-kun and Hattori-kun?"_

 _"Eh? How did you know?"_

 _"...Wataru, we work at the same station."_

" _...Right. Any idea what they're up to?"_

 _"Must be the Kid case. They went up to the tower this morning. Nakamori-keibu got pissed and called Megure-keibu about it."_

 _"Miwako, they haven't worked together for ten years."_

 _"Come to think of it, wasn't their last collaboration-"_

 _"-the night of Ran-chan's death."_

 _"But Edogawa-kun was just a kid back then."_

 _"...Look, Chiyoko-san told me about the files they went through. I'll see if I can find anything. How's Natsumi-chan?"_

 _"She's doing fine. I put her to bed a while ago."_

 _"Good. I'll be home soon."_


	12. Chapter 11

**A/N: Yup, definitely more than four weeks. Yikes, it's more like three months. I'M SORRRRRRRYYYYY. School is literally killing me. We're getting into testing season too, so this will be painful. I can't give you a general idea of update schedule. Most of the time I"m just trying to catch a few hours of zzz so :P We'll see.** **Anyway. Highlights of this chapter: Conan emotes(!) and the plot thickens. This one's kind of filler-y but I figured it's better to have filler update than no update. There's going to be a case (because it's not DC unless there's a case) (also Heiji and Conan being in the same town is just asking for it)but probably next chapter.**

 **Also: For all y'all out there who's first language is Vietnamese and it's easier for you to read in that: the lovely Akiyori Takahashi is translating this fic at** **kenhsinhvien(point)vn/topic/longfic-feel-what-you-know.562615/#post-1897571. I'm beyond flattered that that's a thing that's happening.**

 **If you liked it, please drop a review in the box. It feeds the authoress's soul (please feed my soul, it's starving)**

* * *

He woke up to a ceiling that was distinctly not his own and the dull, low-pitched sound of his phone buzzing against the nightstand.

Heiji groaned and shifted to his side, reaching for his phone. He'd had a late night and nothing short of world war three was going to make him get out of bed at….eight in the morning.

A quick thumbing at the home button revealed that it was Kazuha. Who was coming up with some rather creative ways to decapitate him and get away with it.

He groaned and set his phone down again. Ok, so worse than world war three. But until he could get back to explain to her face to face what was going on, he wasn't going to say anything at all. He'd never been good at expressing himself and doing so over a phone may go wrong in more ways than he'd cared to count.

Instead, he dragged himself up and promptly sneezed. Guh. Dust. Everywhere.

How did K-Conan even live in a place like this?

He got dressed and stumbled downstairs, leaving his phone on the nightstand. Coffee sounded pretty good, right about now. Coffee, and then maybe he ought to call Kazuha after all, and ask her not to do anything rash.

He got the shock of his life when he realized the kitchen lights were on.

In his knowledge, Kudou-Conan, whatever-had never gotten up early of his own volition, so Heiji certainly wasn't expecting to walk into the kitchen and see Conan, one arm supporting Ran as she half-sat, half stood on a tall stool giving instructions in a high-pitched, little voice, the other busy flipping what appeared to be an omelets in a frying pan.

Heiji rubbed his eyes, blinking owlishly.

Then he did it again.

"Are you going to stand there forever?"

He froze in his place.

Conan turned, still wearing the same evil-eyed look, with the same, half-bored tone (maybe the evil-eyed look was an infectious disease. After all, Heiji had also seen it on Haibara when she was a child, and that was equally unsettling.) "Well?"

"Uh-"

Ran turned as well-and ok, this was high on the list of the weirdest things that's ever happened to him, a woman he'd known turned into a child and a child he'd known turned a man both staring at him in the warm, orange light-and waved. "Morning, Nii-chan!"

"...Morning?"

"Chairs are over there." Conan continued matter of factly as he set the omelet into a plate. "There's only three of us. I don't see much point in going to the dining room."

"I...suppose not?"

Conan shrugged. "If you want coffee you'll have to carry it yourself."

Heiji was left staring after them in the kitchen.

 _Right, man. Pull yourself together._

He picked up one of the clean mugs by the side of the sink and filled it with coffee. Drinking it made an instant transformation and his brain was no longer largely made of putty. Now he could deal with...well, whatever it was that this had become.

The kitchen table was smaller than the dining room table, like he remembered from his last visit to this house all those years ago. Ran was too small to reach the table, so Conan had sat her down in his lap. She was digging with enthusiasm into her breakfast while Conan sipped disinterestedly at his coffee, reading something on his phone and occasionally looking down with soft eyes at Ran.

He tried not to stare, he really did. But it was in his nature to wonder.

It was going to be harder this time. The first time he had deduction on his side, and he had the other backed into a corner. The first time, Kudou hadn't been exposed before, and any fear was theoretical. Now, even though there was less likely to be danger, especially here, amongst friends, he was going to have to pry the truth out of Kudou's cold dead hands.

Heiji sat down, hesitantly poking at his omelet and tried to think of ways it would be possible to broach the topic. Eventually he found the courage to pick up a small bite.

Salty. But at least it wasn't poisonous. For Kudou, it was decent.

"You're dying to ask."

Heiji swallowed.

Conan continued, matter-of-factly. His eyes were still fixed on his phone and his body was relaxed, not drawn taut like it was moments before revealing the truth of a case, the picture of nonchalance. "I assume Haibara gave you the rundown."

The nonchalance was faked. Suddenly tension was palpable in the air, even with the table and Ran between them.

"Scientifically, that little nee-chan's the expert," He began, carefully. Heiji had never been good at treading carefully. "I don't know how it's possible, physically, but if she says it is, then I believe her. What I want to know is why."

"What makes you think I know?" A sharp, blue-eyed gaze flicked toward him.

"I think you have an idea."

"You're wrong," Conan said, flatly. Just like that. Conversation over. The battle begun.

Heiji sighed. "The organization wouldn't just do something like that for no reason. You must have an inkling why. And Kaitou Kid?"

"What makes you think he's got anything to do with it?"

"You know, sometimes I think you forget that I'm also a detective. In fact, of the two of us in here, I believe I'm the one with a badge." It was a low blow, and he knew it, but this, whatever this is, always got under his skin.

"That's neither here nor there."

"You can't just do this _every time."_ Heiji ran a hand through his hair, frustration dripping from his voice, bitter, like the taste of coffee still on his tongue. "Don't you see that _this_ is what ruins you? Didn't you learn your lesson the first time?"

"Hattori," Conan said, and Heiji hated it, hated the _warning_ there, like there was any need to threaten him, like it was going to make him stop.

"You turned into a _goddamn seven year old because you're too stubborn and stupid for back up and you're telling me that after ten years-"_

"Hattori, don't-"

" _And that night, with the FBI."_ He couldn't stop now, he couldn't. The words poured out of him like a waterfall, years of silence, of resentment, spilling onto the table between them like coffee stains. Heiji wanted so badly to hurt this boy in front of him, hurt him as much as everyone else he'd hurt over the years that he didn't even notice the volume of his voice rising. " _You're telling me that even after you as good as killed_ _ **her**_ _when you didn't listen and rushed off because you're so much more clever than everyone else that you still haven't-"_

"I suggest," Conan's voice cut through Heiji's tirade clear and sharp like a knife, a cacophony of sounds suddenly assaulting the atmosphere as he stood, so quickly that the table rocked on its legs and his chair topped over. Knives and forks clattered to the side. " _That you stop. Talking."_

And Heiji couldn't see it. He couldn't see it anymore. There was nothing in those eyes, chilling blue to the bone, that even remotely resembled Kudou Shinichi. His friend was dead and Heiji was made of anger, nothing left inside him but that anger, at the boy who let him die, or the organization who killed him, he didn't know.

They stared across the table, eyeing each other like men before a duel. Beside them, Ran's brows had pushed together and her face was twisted with worry, little hands wrapped, knuckles white, around the cutlery.

The silence grew uncomfortable.

Then, the doorbell rang.

Conan was the first to look away. Ran's hands shook, slightly, as Conan dropped to his knees in front of the little girl, whispering soothing things to her and smoothing back her hair

Heiji swallowed, suddenly unsure of where to go next. Anger still bubbled in him, threatening to spill over, like that first meeting he'd had with Kudou. His fists clenched tightly at his sides, nails digging so deep into his palms that he was sure he'd drawn blood. But he felt like an intruder standing in that kitchen, so he turned on his heel and went down the hall.

The bell was still ringing insistently, and, more than a little irritated, he ripped the front door open without even looking first.

He was met with his (very) irate fiancee.

"You missed the suit fitting." Kazuha looked as though she'd simply rolled out of bed and got on the train, ponytail askew and circles under her eyes. "You missed ordering the invitations and the floral arrangements and you missed the cake tasting, so I got us a carrot cake. A _carrot_ cake, Heiji!"

Heiji attempted to protest, but she plunged on, determined not to let him get a word in edgewise. "And nobody knew where you were. I had to ask your mother to figure out you'd gone to Tokyo, and then I had to ask Satou-keiji to figure out you were at Kudou's. My own _fiancé,_ and I had to ask your mother and a police detective." With that, she launched herself at him, throwing her arms around his neck and burying her face in his shoulder. "I thought you'd disappeared." Then, quietly, gesturing at their surroundings. "Like Kudou-kun."

The limbs held taut just a second before relaxed. Tension melted out of his shoulders. His hand came to rest at the small of her back and he buried his face into his hair. Things had been off ever since he'd left Osaka, and maybe this was the reason. No one to yell at him in the morning, jab at him during a case or drag him out when he got tunnel-vision about solving it. And maybe it was the same for her, too.

"Ahou." He admonished gently.

"Shut up." Her voice was muffled. "I was worried."

The sound of someone clearing their throat.

Heiji half-turned.

"Would Toyama-san like to come in?" Conan had emerged from the kitchen. Ran stood with him, half hidden behind his legs.

Kazuha pulled back, suddenly aware that she was in another person's corridor. Her brows furrowed at her host, and she blinked rapidly, like she was attempting to remember, or at least to reconcile the image of the person before her to something in her past. Then, haltingly, as if afraid she would be wrong: "...Conan-kun?"

Conan inclined his head minutely.

She swallowed. " Of course...I should have...Never mind. You've grown up. So much. You look so much like…"

"Yes."

Heiji sent Conan a warning look. The other boy half-rolled his eyes, looking about as much of a teenager as he could get.

Kazuha swallowed. "Ran would have been so proud of you."

Almost subconsciously, Conan's gaze flickered downward. Ran, definitely too small to be "so proud," peered at the new nee-chan.

"And who's that adorable child?"

Over Kazuha's head, Conan caught Heiji's eye. An understanding was reached.

"Ran," the younger man breathed gently.

The girl in question stepped out from behind him, round eyes narrowing a little as if struggling to interpret what she saw. Conan watched her as she went, something like remorse gathering in his eyes.

"What?" Kazuha questioned. Her brows lifted into her hairline and she turned. "...Heiji?"

Heiji could only shake his head. "Just...trust me."

Her teeth worried at her lip and her brows furrowed, but then she bent, and let her features dissolve into something else. "Hello. My name is Kazuha. What's yours?"

Ran peered at her for a second longer. Then her face broke into a smile, so reminiscent, so alike, that there was almost no doubt. "I'm Ran, Kazuha-neechan."

* * *

She flinched awake at the sensation of something pecking into her fingers. Almost reflexively, Haibara reached out for it. The unknown object retreated, cooing against her palm. She groaned, and peeled herself from her keyboard.

A bird regarded her with an inquisitive air. Haibara narrowed her eyes. There were no windows in her basement workroom. How had it gotten here?

Upon closer inspection, she realized it was a dove. A stack of paper, neatly folded, had been tied to its hind leg with a bit of twine. Hesitantly, she tugged at it.

The reports spilled onto her desk, along with a note, and a white rose.

A smirk tugged at her lips as she lifted flower between two fingers. If nothing else, she could at least say Kaitou Kid had class. She dropped into a vase beside her desk, and went to work.

The tests performed had been thorough down to the last macromolecule. Whoever was Kid's in at the forensics lab, they left no stone unturned. It was, perhaps, unethical. But Kid had written to tell her that the samples have already been destroyed, and Haibara had not felt any need to disbelieve him. Yet.

(Of course, trust remained to be had. There was a time when she was as paranoid as Edogawa-kun, and aside from that, one did not simply decide to trust an internationally wanted thief after just one day of cooperation. That was distinctly not how the game was played. One day, she would have to check for herself.)

There were several reports, hastily copied, which Haibara was led to believe must have come from the police station.

The chemical properties of the APTX in Ran's blood were laid bare. With Pandora in mind, she began to look for non-metal but solid elements. That didn't narrow it down a lot, but she did find substances that must have been changed to alter the drug. Combinations that she'd never seen before, but they were reasonable. Possible byproducts. Nothing was really very off, here. Haibara stared at the list of chemicals, the new ones circled with red pen, and found her mind wandering, because really, why wouldn't it? There were so many possibilities.

What did the organization want with this? She leaned back in her chair. The chemical reports could tell her a lot, no doubt. If she kept at it for a while, she could come up with some sort of scientific explanation. But the scientific explanation wasn't enough anymore, not for the full picture. Kaitou Kid though of it simply enough: find Pandora, destroy it. But _why_ did the organization want the Pandora? What were they going to do with it?

Haibara usually left the sleuthing to Edogawa-kun. But, this time, things were different. Edogawa-kun was...unreliable, at best. Completely impossible to work with, at the worst. When things got _personal_ , Edogawa-kun wasn't the best detective. It was his Achilles' heel: no matter how he may proclaim it, he could never be Sherlock Holmes, could never separate the brain from the heart.

Haibara couldn't be either. If she could have, perhaps she would have stayed with the organization, and they wouldn't be here now. But she had a mission to fulfill, and she was going to spare no one's feelings-hers included-to finish what she'd begun.

Mind made up, she took the copied reports off the desks and put them in one of her less expensive bags. Her chest tightened at the thought of where she would be going, and her hand flew to her collar, fisting tight into the material of her shirt.

But old ghosts had to be confronted. She wondered, briefly, if she would feel the way she did, all those years ago, eyes wide, heart doubling its speed in her chest. If sweat would manifest on her brow. If she would tremble, or back down.

The pavement was already growing hot with the midday sun when she walked onto the street. Agasa-hakase was tinkering in the backyard again, and Haibara let him know where she was going. Perhaps she ought to pick up a sandwich or something, strictly dieted, of course, for her guardian. It was in her way anyway.

It was time to pay the last remaining alcohol a visit.

* * *

"You see now?"

They were alone again.

"What are you playing at?" Heiji hissed.

Conan gestured vaguely at Kazuha, who was putting Ran's hair into pigtails in the kitchen. In a different universe, Kazuha and Ran had been the best of friends. Now, Kazuha-neechan and smaller Ran got along as well - thick as thieves, really. It was...comforting, to know, that some things will never change. "You're trying to - protect her. From something. Maybe you don't even know what. It's irrational, but…"He closed his eyes. "But you'd do it. It would be easier, maybe - if you just said something. Maybe better. Maybe it'd make things right. But, on the off chance that something were to happen."

"...Kudou."

The younger boy winced minutely, as if he'd been slapped. In fact, he probably would have reacted less if he'd actually been hit. Heiji had never seen him like this, didn't know what to do.

"They're gone." He bit his lip, watching Conan's face carefully. "They're all gone. You put them away."

"Did I?"

"...Kudou-they're-"

"I know." Conan cut him off, a sardonic twist at his lips. "I know. Gin. Vodka. Vermouth. Rum. Ano Kata." His knuckles were white, fingers wrapped tight around the chair he had been pushing back under the table. "My darkest nightmares."

Heiji swallowed. "You were theirs."

"I've lived in hiding for - ten years, now, Hattori. Sometimes - Sometimes I forget. That I was ever an adult. That I was ever _me_. And the thing that reminds me is _her_. She reminds me that I was stupid and I saw something I shouldn't have and they killed me. She reminds me that the same thing got her killed, too." He sucked in a deep breath. "She reminds me that any single misstep can kill everyone."

Heiji wanted to protest, but the words stuck in his throat, because hadn't they blamed him? It wasn't his fault, and yet - it was easier like that. Conan never allowed for grief. There was nothing but anger, anger that infected the air around him, made it alive and painful.

"It was all on me. My indiscretion."

Heiji bit the insides of his cheek, because, really, what could one say to that?

"I know," Conan continued, " It's over now. But I'm fucked up, Hattori. And I'm not good for her. I'm not good for this."

"Then why do you do it?" The need to hurt him was gone. Clearly, Conan was used to hurting himself. For Heiji, these were just...words. Questions he had to answer. "If it's all for her, then -"

"It's only until Eri-obaasan comes back from Europe." Conan clarified. "She'll stay with me until then. Tell me i'm selfish." He closed his eyes, defiant, waiting.

Heiji was not a drowning man. But even he knew what it felt like, to suffocate.

"...No." His voice was soft, when he finally gathers it.

Conan's lips quirked sardonically again. "Then perhaps we really don't understand each other after all."

Heiji was was just going to protest when Kazuha poked her head through the doorway.

"Conan-kun, your phone's ringing." She looked between the two with narrowed eyes, like somehow, she _knew_ something, and after all these years, Heiji knew he was in for an earful later. "It's Takagi-keiji. It sounds important."

Conan's brows furrowed and he crossed into the kitchen in two quick strides, taking the phone from her. "Hello?"

The ensuing silence was nerve-wracking.

"...Another heist notice?"

Across the room, the two detective's gazes met.

"Thank you for informing me, keiji. We're on it."

* * *

The shop bells jingled when she pushed the door open.

The man at the counter looked up, and then immediately down again, focusing on rigorously scrubbing the glass in front of him.

"Furuya-san."

Her voice didn't quiver, like it would have, once upon a time, but the word still tasted strange on her tongue. She had never gotten used to his real name. In fact, she'd barely gotten used to the fake one. He was always Bourbon, to her. But to the two of them, Bourbon was a relic of older days, like Sherry was. There would come a time, perhaps, when it became just a drink, an unpleasant one that seared the tongue, poured into a glass to be an offering to those that were left behind.

"What do you want?"

"Coffe. Black, two sugars."

He looked up at her through wisps of yellow hair, eyes as dangerous as they'd always been. "What do you _want_."

And it truly had been a long, long time. Bourbon had refused, when they asked him to go back in. The others, too. The government wanted to fight the fight, but it was too soon. A network took time to build. People took time to cultivate. Having lost their best, the Americans decided to cut their losses. The second time they tried to take down the organization was a much lonelier fight. But they got it right. They got it right because those who died died with purpose.

"Answers." A pause. "Answers only your department can give me."

"The department," He turned, stiffly, to get her coffee. Two lumps of sugar were thrown in, haphazardly, and he stirred with something akin to viciousness. "Isn't mine anymore."

"No," Haibara agreed. "But it could have been."

He put the mug down on the table with a thump.

She sipped, let the bitterness sit inside her mouth.

It's telling, that Furuya-san didn't ask how she knew about it.

"Your other contacts?" Furuya Rei leaned back against the counter. "The FBI? CIA?"

He knew better, and she knew it. Haibara shook her head. "They lost their best, and with it, any word of the information I need to get from you."

"And so you came to Poirot." A sigh. Long, slender fingers made their way to pinch the bridge of his nose. "I expected the boy."

"Edogawa-kun is occupied at the moment."

Furuya-san folded his hands, resigned. "You want to know about them?"

"What Anokata was _really_ looking for."

"What makes you so sure I know?"

"Vermouth." Haibara shrugged. "You were her partner, weren't you?"

"...Is this because of that girl from the detective agency?"

Haibara smiled. Dark lashes dipped low over her eyes as she sipped her coffee, deliberately drawing out the silence between them. "And you say you aren't part of the game anymore."

Furuya-san seemed to realize his mistake. His brows drew together, and the corners of his lip tightened ever so slightly. "Just because I don't play doesn't mean I can't know my cards."

"You'd have to make an effort to know this much, this early." She pointed out, polishing off the last of her coffee, pushing the mug across the table.

"It's no more than I need to survive," he countered coolly, picking it up with nimble fingers.

"You know I'm not here to threaten you, Furuya-san."

"Aren't you, _Sherry_?"

"That's a low blow." She leaned forward on her elbows, sighing. "There's nothing I can do to _make_ you help me, you know."

He scoffed. "So you're saying I'm going to do this out of the kindness of my heart?"

"Don't tell me you don't have any. That's so unoriginal nowadays."

"I'm _retired_ , Haibara-san." He put her mug in the sink, porcelain colliding sharply with stainless steel. "I _can't_ help you."

"Can't, or won't?"

"Now who's being cliched?" Furuya Rei sighed. "What difference would it make?"

This she had a ready answer for. "You owe him."

That caught his attention. "What?"

"You owe Edogawa-kun," She repeated, lifting her gaze. "You owe him at least that much. You owe _them_ at least that much."

Kudou Shinichi. Akai Shuichi. Hondou Hidemi.

Mouri Ran.

Silence.

She allowed herself a smile. Haibara was nothing if not patient. Ten years tended to do that to someone. "I'm not asking for much. I just want to know what you know."

The silence was finally broken. "And after that?"

"I'll let you retire in peace."

"Somehow, I doubt it's that simple," Furuya-san fought off a grimace. "I'll get my old case files from Kazami. Come to think of it, you're worse than him."

Haibara smirked. "More effective, perhaps, is the word you're looking for."


	13. Chapter 12

**A/N: Long time no update! Hi guys! I'm sorry that this is...well, three and a half months late *winces* but life just kinda spiraled at me :P First it was testing season, then it was vacation, and then it was just plain old procrastination - BUT I'M BACK ON THE SCENE well, at least, I hope :P Once again, I promise you that this fic will not be abandoned, and once again I back it up with a word count~ I will be late, but better late than never, right?**

 **Anywhoo: the game is afoot, and a case begins! I researched so many Rich People Things for this case and whooo boi. Did you know there's a rolls royce car paint job that is done with literal diamond dust? They didn't reveal the price but holy heck! How do ppl afford that? IN anycase: Anynoe got your guesses yet? Who's Kaitou Kid and who's the murderer? Will Conan be able to tell? Leave those in my box~ I won't tell you if you're right because ~spoilers~ but you can feel impressed with yourself afterwards lol~ you should also kno on a different note that i'm p bad at cases :P So..wish me luck I guess?**

 **If you liked it, please leave a review in the box! It feeds the authoress's soul (and pushes her off her lazy bum to update! So review please! Fighting!)**

* * *

"And this wasn't reported to Nakamori-keibu instead, because?"

Conan shot him a look that screamed annoyance. Heiji glared back. He wasn't going to be blinded by whatever this was-personal grudge or sheer stubbornness or whatever the hell Conan wanted to call it. He was most certainly a detective, first and foremost. Everything else came after.

"Akita-san requested it," Takagi-keiji eyed the two in the backseat, mentally sighing. The atmosphere back there was frigid at best. Ran was unaware of the palpable tension in the air, happily balanced on Conan's knees, but that's a grown woman Takagi had figured out turned into a _child_ and okay actually he was very firmly _not_ thinking about the backseat.

"Akita?" Conan's eyes narrowed. "Akita Chiyoko-san? What does she have to do with this?"

Takagi had to fight off the urge to dab at the sweat on his forehead. "I'm surprised you remember her."

"She watched Ran." Was that the explanation for the uncanny insight? Probably. Edogawa-kun had always been sharp, but infinitely more so when something he cared about was involved. It would take no less to dismantle an underground syndicate in ten years; to call it an obsession would be an understatement.

"Ah. Yes." Takagi cleared his throat, keeping his eyes firmly on the road even though he can feel another pair of eyes, magnified in intensity through glasses lenses, trained on the back of his head. "You see...uh. It's her first time having an actual assignment."

Heiji was the one to fold his arms and stare this time. "Any particular reason why?"

It would appear as though Takagi had been ganged up on. Some things never changed, even if the people involved did. He turned the wheel to the right, and they pulled up through a forested gate. "Akita-san came to work for us in rather special circumstances."

"Special?"

Takagi tried his best not to wince. Why did these two always seemed to figure everything out before anyone told them anything?

"Guys," Thankfully, Kazuha cut through the conversation, staring out the window.

And-judging by the gate, anyone could've told that it belonged to someone immensely rich. In fact, since it related to a Kid case, there should've been no doubt from the beginning. Still, actually seeing it was something else altogether. Heiji let out a low whistle.

Ran scrambled to her feet on Conan's lap despite a flurry of voices telling her it was too dangerous, face pressed to the window, eyes wide and glittering like she'd just found all of the universe's answers embodied in one object.

(Conan found a pang of jealousy, stabbing and unbidden in his chest. She looked at him like that once - in their shared, first childhood.)

The house they'd pulled up to was, in all honesty, more castle than house. Styled after the fashion of a western mansion, it loomed over the front steps, daunting in and of themselves.

Takagi parked the car and stepped out. His keys were immediately taken by a stoic man in a chauffeur's hat, which, while not wholly expected, seemed to be the thing to do. At the top of the stairs, an old man in a wheelchair, luxurious velvet throw tossed over his lap, watched with an unreadable expression, an entourage of maids and a woman in red beside him.

Only when they'd gotten halfway up the steps had Conan registered that the woman was Akita Chiyoko. Slow, for him, but understandable, because his brain seemed to run on overdrive now, all the time.

"Takagi-keiji!" Chiyoko met them on the last three steps. She was different, here. Less of an exasperated, soft-spoken police station employee and...more at ease. "Edogawa-kun! And this is Hattori Heiji-san, isn't it? Detective of the West?"

Heiji raised an eyebrow. Honestly, this action summed up mostly how everyone felt.

She flushed a little. "I was a bit of a fan when I was younger. Congratulations on your engagement."

"Does everybody know about that now?" Heiji wondered aloud. Kazuha rolled her eyes. Just like her fiance to conveniently forget he was a public figure and also never shut up.

Besides, would it be a bad thing, for everyone to know?

She shook the thought away. Must still be reeling, was all. She smelled secrets here, could feel them rolling over her the second she stepped foot in Tokyo. Thick as thieves, they were, Heiji and Conan-kun. It was always the case. After Ran died and everything went sour, it became clear. Something was off at Beika. Kudou-kun dropped off the map, if it was possible to be even more gone than he already was. Kazuha still remembered Heiji's silence, his limbs drawn taut, a storm brewing in his eyes when she raged and fumed in turns, seventeen and oh so young, still incapable of understanding why Kudou-kun couldn't visit, wasn't there save Ran, didn't even come to the funeral of the girl he claimed to love.

It wasn't until much, much later that she began to wonder.

Someone must have known _something._

"Chiyoko-nee-chan!" Ran's cry of acknowledgement cut through any possible response and she squirmed a little on Conan's shoulders, a sure sign that she wanted to be let off, and Conan sighed, bending down so she could slide onto the ground. Her arms were attached around Chiyoko's legs almost immediately.

Chiyoko laughed. "Hey there, Ran-chan." She reached down to ruffle the little girl's hair. "Shouldn't you be in school today?"

"Conan-nii-chan says I don't _have_ to go!"

"She was kidnapped just a few days ago," Conan offered stiffly, by way of explanation. As if by instinct, Ran gravitated backwards. He felt her shoulders bump against his knee and pushed the protectiveness back down. Ran, always knowing exactly what to do, no matter what.

"Chiyoko," a benevolent, disinterested voice floated from the top of the stairs. "Why don't you invite our guests inside? We have a sitting room for a reason."

"Ah! I'd forgotten," Chiyoko looked embarrassed - an expression much more aligned with who she appeared to be at the station. "Follow me. C'mon, up the stairs. Oji-sama would love to meet you."

Conan caught little Ran around the middle and hoisted her up again. She'd been struggling with the stairs, a little bit too big a leap for the length of her current legs. Heiji looked over the other's heads, and the two detective exchanged a similar, knowing glance.

"Oji-sama," Chiyoko bowed to the stern, wiry man in the chair.

The man - Akita-san, presumably - inclined his head. "And your friends." His gaze swept over each of them. "Takagi-keiji. We spoke on the phone. I must thank you for arriving so promptly. Hattori Heiji-san. My granddaughter cites you as the reason she joined the police taskforce. And you must be Toyama Kazuha-san, his fiancee, no?" Then the eyes, dark and sharp and unchanged by age, trained on Conan's face. "Edogawa Conan-kun." A pause, barely noticeable and a subtle lift of the lips under the moustache. "I've heard of you."

Simple words, but it sent a thrill of something wrong trickling down his spine. His hold on Ran, still hoisted over her shoulder, tightened minisculely when the very same gaze trailed subtly upward to rest on a rounded face.

It welled up in him, all at once, and he clenched his jaw.

"Well, you must come in. I'll have the housekeeper fetch us a spot of tea."

"You alright?" Kazuha went on ahead, and Heiji sidled up next to Conan.

"The old man feels off, somehow."

"Since when have you gone on feeling?"

"Since never," Conan said flatly.

Heiji shrugged. "First time for everything, right?"

* * *

"What if it's a trap?"

He grinned as he snapped on the gloves. "It's most definitely a trap."

Silence fell between them. The silence was uncharacteristic. He expected some kind of insult on his intelligence, and looked up when she offered none.

"Then don't go," She said, finally, quiet. Pearly teeth sunk into her bottom lip, and her arms were folded as she leaned against the window. Aoko looked anywhere but at him, and he sighed, posture softening as he dropped down to her.

It had been a trying couple of days.

"Aoko, look at me."

"No."

"Please?"

She looked at him, and he was surprised to find a suspicious sheen in her eyes. It yanked and twisted at his heart, reminded him that this hurt her, that _he_ hurt her, but he knew that it had to be done, he had to answer the call, and so he reached out instead, cradling her face with both of his hands.

"Nakamori Aoko," he said, solemn. "I'm making you a promise."

She blinked up at him through wide shimmering eyes and he wanted badly, _badly_ to kiss her.

"I'll come back," He said, instead, trying, despite the impossibility of telepathy, to pass this impossible well of feeling to her, just so she would _know._

Finally, Aoko cracked a watery smile. "You'd better."

"That's my girl," He said, the fondness in his voice evident as he planted a loud kiss to the top of her head. "I'll see you later."

She leaned back against the windowsill as he gave her a cheeky wave and dived off her second story apartment.

It never really got easier, watching him leave. Same as her father, she supposed. She was left to suppose. She knew why, of course, both why he had to continue doing this, and why she couldn't help him. But it didn't mean she had to like it. Didn't mean she could ever stop wrestling with the growing sense of restlessness mounting in her.

It didn't mean she didn't want to do - _something._

One day, some day, when he needed her most - she will.

* * *

Tea was served in an ornate drawing room with chairs that seemed more decorative than for actual sitting in. They were urged to sit anyway, and they did, all in a row, somewhat uncomfortably squished into one probably exceedingly expensive sofa. For a while, all of them sat, silent, sipping tea.

Well. There was only so long the universe was going to stand for that.

"So," Heiji began, awkwardly. "You uh...called about a heist?"

Akita-san pinned him with a look.

Heiji could feel the goosebumps running up his arm. There was definitely something wrong here. He just couldn't tell what. Not yet.

"Then Chiyoko has not told you the whole story?"

"Not quite," Conan said. The boys exchanged a very particular look over Kazuha's head. On the far end of the couch, Takagi wiped at the cold sweat that was beginning to manifest on his forehead. This really was going to be the death of him.

"Very well." Akita-san signaled to the maid at the door, who nodded, stoic. She disappeared out the door and reappeared a half minute later, a card on an actual honest to god platter.

"We received this yesterday. The butler found it on the front step. We checked security camera footage of course, but -"

"Kid doesn't leave a trace when he doesn't want to."

"No."

"May I?"

Akita-san made a careless wave.

Conan picked up the note. Blank except for the smiling doodle that symbolized Kid, the paper was the same stock and size as all of the Kaitou's other calling cards. So far, nothing out of the ordinary, except for the lack of an obvious riddle, though of course, this was not uncommon either. Kid played at being fair, warning his victims that something is about to be stolen from them, giving them time to go to the police. This was warning enough. The riddles were only for Conan or other detectives, because Kid guessed (and was usually correct in) that they enjoyed the puzzle. A special summons, so to speak.

But if Kid was really going to steal another gem, it ought not have been so soon after the first one. Magic tricks took time to perfect. Setting up two heists, especially one in which Kid had direct business with a detective, seemed like a complicated process. As much as he'd never admit it, Conan and Kid were evenly matched. Kid would neither so severely overestimate his own abilities nor leave things up to chance.

A strategic disadvantage when the thief had the choice to schedule a heist at any time did not seem plausible.

Then, what was Kid up to?

"As you can see, the infamous Kaitou made no mention of which treasure he is to steal from me, but his intent is clear. I have recently acquired an English gem. As it is a new addition to the collection, as well as intended as my grand-daughter's dowry, I've not yet sealed it into the family vault."

"What's with these guys always wanting to put their family jewels in noticeable, accessible places?" Heiji muttered under his breath.

Akita-san continued, not seeming to notice, or perhaps having been raised to be such a paragon of manners and grace as to pretend not to notice. "It has since then been locked up in a bulletproof display case, and my personal security detail have been watching over it day and night."

"That won't be enough to stop Kid," Heiji crossed his arms, leaning back, _unimpressed_ written all over his face.

"I am aware, Hattori-san." Akita said coolly. "That _is_ , in fact, why you're here."

"If your plan," Conan began, equally cool, "Is me, then I'd suggest you find another one."

"Come now, Edogawa-kun. They called you the Kid Killer, you know. I've always wanted to witness the chase. Besides, you can't say you're not the least bit curious."

It seemed as though he was the one being scrutinized, not Kid.

His fingers curled into his palm, digging white crescents into the fleshy pad even as a grin pulled slowly at his lips. "I made a promise I intend to keep. Let's leave it at that."

He may have been turned into something akin to a soldier, but he did intend to keep his promises, especially since he could never keep them before. He owed it to the universe, for all the times he told _her_ he would come home and never did.

A dry twist of the lip, almost knowing. "There is honor to be found amongst thieves, then?"

Conan turned a flat stare to the old man, words bitingly clear. "I can assure you that's not the case."

"Disappointing," the old man shrugged. "But not entirely unpredicted."

"Glad to know it's still convenient for you,"

Once again, the jab was ignored for what it was. "Would you like to come with me? See Kid's prize? It's the least I can do to thank you for coming all this way."

The "for nothing" trailed into the air and faded. No one chose to acknowledge it. Conan traded glances with Heiji over Kazuha's head.

"Actually -" Heiji began, but Kazuha huffed and elbowed him in the ribs.

"Don't make this difficult for Takagi-keiji," She tugged him down by his ear, hissing.

Silence fell. A smirk, just on this side of imperceptible, flitted into Akita-san's face.

"Well." Conan announced, finally, tense as he stood. "I suppose you'll have to lead the way."

Kazuha lingered in the back with Heiji as they followed Akita-san down the hall, Takagi in the lead. From the growingly agitated dialect, Conan could tell she was probably chewing him out.

He was already regretting the venture. At first, he deemed it too improbable to be a coincidence. The odds of a heist note, so soon after the first one? But things were wrong. He could feel it, rippling deep and dark.

"Sorry," Chiyoko interjected, out of nowhere.

Conan started from his thoughts.

Her face was half concealed in the relative dimness of the hallway, submerged in shadow.

His brows furrowed minisculely. "For what?"

"This isn't pleasant."

He stared, long and hard.

"...No. I suppose it's not."

The hallway led to an adjoining room, equally spacious as the last. Graceful leather couches were placed precisely around a display case, and two people were sat on opposite ends, barely acknowledging the party as they came into the room.

Akita-san tapped lightly on the top of the couch.

The woman on the left grumbled.

"Now, now, Sumire-chan." Akita said. His voice was mild, but a note of warning was in it. "Madoka-kun. Let's not misbehave in front of guests.

The man to the right huffed and got up, crossing his arms. "It's that woman's fault anyway."

Akita Sumire gasped. "My fault? Why you little -"

Akita-san cleared his throat.

Sumire rolled her eyes and got to her feet as well. " _Fine_ , old man."

"I must apologize for their rudeness," Akita-san turned back to his guests. "My eldest grand-daughter, Sumire. Her cousin, Madoka." Standing together, it was easily seen that the three were related. Each grand-child had inherited Akita-san's sharpness, the dark, pointed eyes and the tilted chin, the hooked nose and the thin, pursed lip.

A crash came from the direction of the stairs, and Sumire rolled her eyes one more time as a young man with features that were familiar, but distinctly softer, came from the other floor.

"And this is Keisuke-kun, their - "

" _Half_ -cousin," Madoka's lip lifted in something like a smirk.

Akita didn't make any comment, only pursed his lips.

Keisuke pretended not to notice. Instead, his curious, amber-eyed gaze flitted across each of their faces. "Ojii-chan, you didn't tell us there would be guests today."

"I suppose I'd forgotten," Akita-san announced diplomatically. "Children, you've already met Takagi Wataru-keiji from the station. This is Hattori Heiji-san from Osaka and his fiancee, Toyama Kazuha-san. And surely, you must recognize Edogawa Conan-kun."

"What, the brat that's always on TV?"

"The high school detective, _Nee-chan,"_ Madoka sneered. "If you paid any attention to anything other than your nails and your good-for-nothing fiance, you'd know that."

Keisuke continued to ignore his cousins' bickering. Instead, his gaze landed on Ran, still perched over Conan's shoulder. He smiled, face looking even softer now, using the special kind of voice used only for children. "And who is this little _ojou-chan_?"

Conan's breath caught in his throat, and his head shot up. Now that he was thinking about it - Keisuke would be easy. Undeniably easy. They would be approximately the same age. Same eyes. Same wild hair. All Kid would have to do was lift his voice, just a little bit. Round out the consonants, and voila.

"Yes," Akita-san's voice seemed distant, unimportant, but distinctly uncomfortable as Conan met the sharp, blue eyes in front of him. "Who is the little ojou-chan, indeed?"

"I'm Ran, Onii-san!" The little girl, having been largely silent previously, burst out into an ear-splitting grin as she introduced herself.

"Yes," Sumire deadpanned with a yawn, "And I'm _bored_. Are your guests going to be good for _any_ entertainment?"

"I rather think it's our turn to entertain the guests today," Akita-san remarked dryly. He turned to the display case in the center of the room. Unlike _Wolf's Bane_ from the previous heist, the jewel on display seemed like Kid's usual type. An opal of considerable size, it tossed light every direction, but seemed almost translucent at the center, a pale kind of white like the moon on a stormy day.

"This is it, then? The thing Kid's after?" Heiji walked around the case.

"The _Jade Rabbit_ ," Akita-san affirmed. "The newest in my collection."

Conan snorted. Wolves and rabbits in quick succession. What was the Magician under The _Moon_ light up to this time?

"Conan-nii-chan," Ran tugged gently at Conan's hair, splitting the boy's attention instantly in two, "Let me down, please. I want to see too."

Sumire scoffed. "Don't get your grubby mitts on the glass, _brat._ "

"Ok," Conan spared Sumire no thought, and set Ran down instead, reaching out to smooth her hair behind her ear. Conan knew there were eyes on him, but couldn't quite begrudge himself or her his usual gentleness with her. "But stay put, and don't wander off, ok?"

She beamed up at him, and his heart cracked, just a little. "Okay, Nii-chan!"

As a teen turned child many years ago, he'd wanted desperately for independence. He'd already been largely self sustaining in his first childhood. Besides, though he had not yet admitted to it then, being head over heels for Ran made it weird that she took it upon herself to mother him.

This, however, was different. Ran had no practical memories. She needed to be taken care of, and he was more than willing to do it, if a little incompetent at times.

The door opened behind them and a tall, good-looking foreigner poked his head in. He seemed momentarily shocked to see the congregation of people in the room.

Sumire's previous haughty, apathetic expression melted right of her face and she hurled herself across the room. "Honey!"

"Ah," The man said. "Sumire-chan."

An older man followed behind. The Akita family resemblance was ever present in the dark hair and moustache touched by gray, but in this man it was a little more rounded in a way that reminded Conan a little of Agasa-hakase.

"Sorry," said the ojii-san. "Henry-kun couldn't - "

"Couldn't wait to see me again, huh?" Sumire all but cooed.

Henry made no answer.

Akita-san cleared his throat. Again. Conan was beginning to pity the old man. "This is my brother, Masayuki. Sumire-chan's fiance, Henry-kun."

Sumire all but leapt into her fiance's arms. "Oh, _darling_ I missed you _so_ much. All these people are so _dull_ and I'm bored to tears with them-"

"I'm sure it must've been very - "

"Oh," She didn't wait for him to finish, fluttering her lashes at an alarming rate. "But darling, you caught me at a bad moment." She patted her under eyes. "I haven't even gotten any makeup on yet!"

Except she did. Heiji probably put it off, but Kazuha would've known, and Conan did too. He'd grown up around a movie actress after all. The smell of powder was distinct.

"You look lovely as always," Henry placated.

"What a _sweetie-pie_ you are. That's why I like you so much." Sumire giggled. "But I should go up and powder my nose. I _ought_ to try looking my best for my fiance." She huffed at everyone around her in lieu of a goodbye and flitted toward the staircase, stepping up daintily.

"I have to go too, Jii-san," Madoka was typing furiously on his phone. "Some bastard just beat my bid on on that new car skin."

"Another car skin?" Masayuki-san wondered aloud. "Didn't you just get a paint job for that rolls royce?"

"Diamonds are really not my thing," Madoka waved a hand dismissively. "Anyhow, I don't see how it's any of your business."

"Well," Akita-san said. "Since everyone has their own business to attend to, I'll leave you to it."

"Ah, well, I must take my leave then," Masayuki-san trudged toward the stairs. "The bookshelf still needs rearranging."

"And I myself have some errands to run," Akita-san conceded. "I do feel terrible that I am unable to give a more informative tour of the house."

"I can do that, Jii-san," Keisuke grinned. "I might not have lived here as long as everyone else, but that's part of the fun. Everyone coming with?"

Kazuha stared after Sumire. Then at Heiji, beside her, biting her lip. Her engagement ring itched at her finger, and she twisted it, round and round.

"Uh…"

Akita-san's gaze was immediately pulled at her face. "Toyama-san?"

"Actually….I think I may need to freshen up a little too. Up the stairs?"

"Up the stairs. First door to your left. Sumire-chan should still be in there." Akita-san cleared his throat. "Very well. Takagi-keiji?"

"H-hai!" Takagi snapped to attention, even though his mind had, not two seconds ago, been wandering to Minako and Natsumi.

"Will you watch over the Jade Rabbit for a little bit, while I take some urgent calls?"

"Oh! Of course!"

"Chiyoko-chan," Akita-san waved his youngest grand-daughter over. She bowed, meekly, at their guests. A strange glint shone in her eyes when her gaze met Conan's, for just a second, as she righted herself once more. Then she turned and wheeled her grandfather out of the door.

"Well, let's go, shall we?" Keisuke turned to them. "I'll be your tour guide today! Want to come with, Henry?" He spared a glance for his future brother in law.

"No," The blonde foreigner was on the phone. "I've got a call from work. There a study around here?"

"Round the corner, third door to your right."

Henry nodded in acknowledgement, and disappeared down the hall.

"Well, shall we?" Keisuke repeated himself, grinning and sweeping his arms out, energy catching like fire. "There's drawing rooms and sitting rooms and gardens and libraries and rooms I haven't even been in. It's quite a show."

"...No thanks," Heiji stuffed his hands in his pockets and tilted his head toward Conan. Kazuha had gone for some reason or other, so he had to wait for her. Besides, he wasn't really too curious about this whole mansion. More curious about what Kid was about to do, in any case. "Better stick with Takagi-keiji, yeah?"

Conan kept his eye on Keisuke, nodding slow. "Yeah."

"Aww, just me and Ran-chan then?"

His voice turned to ice. "She's not going anywhere with you."

Ran giggled.

"Your nii-chan's mean, isn't he?"

Ran nodded solemnly.

Traitor.

"Do you want to go with Keisuke-nii-san?" He forced himself to ask.

Because if she did, he would let her. Because if she was still her, and she wanted to leave him, he would do nothing but stand and watch her walk away. It was too good to be true, too good to last. He was living on borrowed time, and he knew it. Years ago, he buried his heart when he buried her. Now, she was here, and she could bury it again, if she liked. If she liked, he would do near anything.

"I want to see a garden," Ran nodded enthusiastically. "Sensei at school told me my name means orchid! I wanna see if there are any orchids!"

Conan sighed. "Fine. But wait a while. Once Kazuha-san comes back, she can go with you."

Ran blinked. "But isn't Nii-chan coming?"

His heart cracked again, at the tiny, wondering voice. "Nii-chan can't. I have to stay and help Takagi-keiji."

And besides, if Keisuke really was the Kaitou Kid, following him as per his plan was the worst idea. He trusted Kazuha-san to be able to take Kid down if necessary, and it had been proven that Kid refused to hurt Ran even a smidgen before. He wouldn't go along, especially if that was what Kid really wanted.

"That ahou's taking forever," Heiji grumbled, "What the hell are they - "

A blood-curdling scream interrupted him mid-sentence. Heiji's eyes widened.

"That was - "

"From upstairs - "

"A woman's voice?"

"Kazuha."

"What?" Keisuke tilted his head.

"Kazuha's up there." Heiji's eyes blazed and he dashed toward the stairs, Takagi not far behind. Conan went to scoop Ran up from he ground, only to realize that Keisuke's beaten him to it.

" _Kazuha? Ahou, answer me!"_


	14. Chapter 13

**A/N: KIDS THIS IS THE AUTHOR I AM STILL ALIVE. and this fic is also still alive! In fact, the next chapter is in the workings and i've got quite a few more planned before this ends for good. I'm sorry it's been uh...well, it's almost been a year now :P But unfortunately, yours truly was going through a bunch of applications + attempting to graduate so...sorry, this fic has been put on the back burner. If it makes you kids feel any better, I haven't been writing any other fic either lol. But the point is: I WILL BE FINISHING THIS BOI so please be patient with me lolol.**

 **I see all your reviews that say "update" so I'm posting this, both to placate the masses and because I've had it for too long and it's getting stale to reread it. It's only 3k words and didn't cover everything i wanted to cover for this chapter, but it'll do for now. In the future, please refrain from simply commenting "update." Yes, you may think, it worked this time! But I'm an anxious bean and any time I see an ominous "UPDATE" in my inbox i get really shook and stop thinking abt the fic for five years bc coping mechanisms. So yes. Feel free to leave your thoughts, ideas, etc. in the review box, and some "update!"s if you must, but try to refrain to save the authoress from her nervous breakdowns pls.**

 **Guest, who posted 3 reviews. You realize that browsing as a guest means I can't actually reply to anything you say except in an AN lol. But as to your concerns, 1) I'm here, hello, no need to have anyone adopt this fic. 2) I have not yet watched the latest movie because it's not available in my country subbed yet. 3) No idea. I keep being told this fic is a v original concept but I'm sure someone must've done something similar at some point in time? Also anyone is free to take this concept and write spinoffs provided they a) ask me first/link me so i can read it lol b) credit me if they take anything from my specific universe canon. I love different versions of different fic concepts! Go crazy y'all!**

 **Whoo. That was a long AN. I'll shut up now and leave you to your reading. As always, leave a review in the box to feed the authoress's soul :) I make no promises as to when the next update will be since I'm dealing with graduation, and then I'll be travelling to Japan (if you guys want to see them aesthetic adventures, check out my tumblr linked in the account cause that's where posts and pics will go probably), but I do promise that I will finish this fic. It will happen!**

* * *

A crowd had already gathered at the locked door. Akita-san and Chiyoko appeared to be trying it when Takagi, Heiji, Conan and Keisuke with Ran in tow dashed up the stairs. The older man and the young woman were promptly elbowed out of the way. One second Heiji was lifting his foot and the next second the door was flying off the hinges, hitting the floor with a resounding thud. A startled shout came from behind them. Masayuki-san, having just come out of the room across the hall, was trembling from his sprawled position on the floor.

But that, that was not what caught everyone's attention. What caught everyone's attention was Akita Sumire, slumped over in the corner, a blood red rose at her feet.

Heiji charged over, blazing eyes, to feel for a pulse.

A moment later, he shook his head.

"Time of death," Chiyoko announced through gritted teeth, looking down at her watch. Her fingers were clenched tightly into a fist, her knuckles white. "11:23:45 a.m. No sign of Toyama-san."

With a frustrated grunt, Heiji drove his fist into the floor.

Conan crossed his arms. "Hattori."

"If you're about to start sounding like that damned Brit Hakuba, I'll rip your eyebrows off." The detective of the west growled.

He clenched his jaw, but his voice remained even. "And if you contaminate the crime scene, I will have to throw you out."

"I'd like to see you try."

Takagi cleared his throat.

"Oji-sama," Chiyoko was hoisting Masayuki-san to his feet. "Oji-sama, are you alright?"

"S-she's - "

An English curse floated up the stairs, and then a second round of thundering footsteps came up and Henry and Madoka charged in, shouting. "Kid took it! Kid took the jewel - " Henry stopped at the doorway, eyes growing wide, and Madoka gasped.

Akita-san, expressionless and unreadable, finally opened his mouth to speak. "Takagi-san, have you contacted the police station yet?"

"I've spoken to Megure-keibu. He's got a separate case downtown."

"There are three professional inspectors and a famous high school detective on the scene," Keisuke volunteered from where he was. Ran was perched uneasily on his arm, and he'd covered her eyes, a fact Conan was thankful for. "I'm sure they can handle it."

"Well then," Akita-san's eyes were deep and dark and impenetrable. A mirror of Conan's own gaze, ten years ago, furious hailstorm brewing, rather than sadness. "I had hoped to entertain our guests in better circumstances - but I suppose we're relying on you, _Meitantei."_

* * *

Her phone went off at least six different times in the last quarter of an hour. She was ignoring it in favor of the televised Big Osaka match, because Higo was returning to play in an all-star game and she much preferred watching it as it was broadcasted live than filming it for later. Something about the excitement of the game was better preserved in the heat of the moment.

At the mid-game commercial, however, she picked up her phone, still buzzing from the coffee table, and flicked through her notifications quickly.

Ayumi made up the majority of her texts. A few were from a more timid Mitsuhiko, and then there were the messages from an unknown number. Her guess was that it was likely Kid's assistant, or maybe Bourbon.

With a sigh she flicked to the thread she'd had with the Shounen Tantei-dan. Conan was technically also part of the thread, but he'd muted notifications long ago, and never came on unless he needed something, or one of them badgered him enough to.

The subject of the texts had begun from innocent to full on questioning. At seventeen, subtlety was not exactly very prominent in any of their personalities. She imagined Edogawa-kun must have been similar, the first time round, before subtlety became a necessity if they wanted to survive.

It was refreshing, as it always was for her, to be able to see through these children, who were, perhaps, not quite so young anymore. Not quite so easy to fool, to brush away, but bursting with the same dangerous curiosity that had stayed on since childhood.

They had never discussed this. There was no contingency plan, perhaps because over the years Edogawa-kun simply tired of remembering, but Haibara knew. It was only a matter of time before they figured it out.

Sighing, she pulled up the text from the unknown number instead. Ayumi could wait. Besides, it was likely what she wanted to know was in relation to Edogawa-kun, and Haibara had purposefully stayed away from the Kudou Mansion since the encounter with Kaitou Kid. She herself had been a criminal - her past would haunt her, as long as she was alive, no matter what - but her association with Kid needed to stay secret, from her enemies and her allies. To Edogawa-kun, everyone had a tell, and she wasn't going to risk it.

There was no actual text enclosed in the message, only data, logged neatly in a table.

She pulled it up, squinting at the numbers on the smaller screen. Kid's assistant had found the time to conduct field experiments from a synthesized mock solution. Rudimentary, not quite as elegant as the real thing, and of course, not enough to stimulate too much of an effect, but sufficient enough for modeling. All but one of the lab rats had died.

It puzzled her.

Her hypothesis had always been that only certain people would be able to take the drug and live, backed largely by the long list of the dead she had to personally check. When she'd tried to come up with an antidote the first time, she'd tested on her own blood, and that of Edogawa-kun, but data was frightfully hard to come by.

Kid's assistant seemed to have reached the same conclusion that she had - the only difference in chemical composition between the two different versions of the drug was an increase in the unknown metallic element infused with the leukocytes. Her original drug had only trace amounts - which could be blamed on anything, impurities in the equipement, chemical byproducts. But the modified version gave much more significant numbers. Pandora, perhaps? It would stand to reason that was the case. Whatever the metallic element was, it would be the key to the shrinking.

But if the organization had modified the drug so that the side effect became its sole intent, then why did it still primarily kill? And if they had found or synthesized the compound that made Pandora do what it did - had they found the stone as well?

Whatever the unknown element was, it was meant to reverse the apoptosis the original drug had implemented, at a faster rate than cell death could occur. Haibara could understand the obvious of how this could result in death - for the same reason it was a risk every time Edogawa-kun used to take a temporary antidote. They had been extremely lucky it'd worked. Rapid multiplication was very easily overdone. If the timing was incorrect, it could have been fatal.

But why the organization allowed such a risk at all was a suspicion. The way the element was infused made it seem impossible, but Haibara knew that any chemist worth a damn would've known there was a more elegant way. It would've taken work, but eventually, some more stable balance could've been achieved.

She needed data.

Not her own data, but that of the organization.

It was times like this that she missed her mother, missed the meticulous handwriting that had helped her through the very first steps of developing a drug that kept her and her sister alive.

A deal was a deal, though. No matter what she thought of the situation at the moment, she needed to figure out a way to isolate the unknown element and analyze it first. Kid needed this information for his search - and who knew? Maybe Pandora could give her the missing piece she was looking for.

Then - well, then, she supposed, it would be time to pay Bourbon another visit.

* * *

"Ai-chan is up to _something_."

"You said that about Edogawa-kun last time," Mitsuhiko pointed out, leaning back in his chair to sip his iced tea.

"So they're both suspicious," Genta shrugged and sat down, dumping an assortment of snacks on the table. "Koala?"

Ayumi took the proffered chocolate filled koala cookie and tore off its ear viciously. "It's not like we're _children._ "

"Ah, admit it," Genta snapped his own koala in half. "You're still upset they didn't tell us about that crime syndicate."

"Am not!" She turned to him, eyebrows shooting up in indignation.

"Are too." He crossed his arms.

" _Well_ ," Ayumi rolled her eyes, puffing out her bottom lip as she too, crossed her arms. "Have either of you got anything _else_ interesting?"

"Daisuke-kun's missing tennis racket?"

"We all know his brother's the one 'borrowing' it everyday after school."

"Or," Mitsuhiko said, not bothering to look up from his math booklet. "We could actually do our homework for once."

"Come on! Anyone can tell that Ai-chan and _baka_ -kun are hiding _something._ They have no life aside from taking down the biggest crime syndicate in Japan, apparently, but the case gets solved and the next thing you know, Edogawa-kun plays caretaker to an amnesiac child that looks like Ran-nee-chan? That's too suspicious to be a coincidence. And Ai-chan's been shutting herself up in that lab for days. She never does that, unless there's a lead she's chasing."

"If it's something we need to know about, they would've told us already."

She turned around to glare at the boys. "You _know_ they've always kept secrets."

Silence.

And really, there wasn't a way to deny that.

Secrets were rife in the lives of Haibara-san and Edogawa-kun, and it had always been that way. With every step they took out of childhood, they realized, from the very beginning, they were of two worlds. Edogawa-kun always hid in the shadows, even before Ran-nee-chan died. After, he practically lived in it. The two of them never told the rest of the tantei-dan where they were going. The ongoing mystery would be to figure out where and what their missing members were up to. Barring that, there was something irrevocably different about the two of them, with their old, old eyes and the weight with which they spoke.

Things simply didn't add up.

"Some secrets should be kept, Ayumi-chan," Mitsuhiko said, quietly.

They were friends, after all. Beyond secrets, beyond suspicion, at the core of it, was that. A detective would not usually blind himself, but in this case, there was little choice. Mitsuhiko knew this, and Ayumi knew this as well. There had to come a point where the truth was not worth what would be lost.

Ayumi met Mitsuhiko's level gaze. "But it could be dangerous." Her shoulders were set square, her head pushed down, tried to convey that she knew what she was doing. "It started there, so it must have something to do with that organization somehow."

After all, it was the last thing she would wish for, that things would change.

Mitsuhiko sighed and closed his notebook, exchanging a glance with Genta over their stubborn friend's head.

"I guess we're doing this?"

Genta shrugged, a grin lifting at his lip as he rolled up his sleeves. "Did we ever really have a choice in the first place?"

Their gazes simultaneously strayed to Ayumi. She grinned back, fierce and bright, long hair swept over her shoulder. Determination set in her every muscle, drawn taut and open and ready.

"Yeah, okay," Mitsuhiko conceded with a sigh. "You're right."

* * *

"What I don't understand is how the murderer was able to take Toyama-san in the first place," Takagi paced the room. "We've all witnessed her aikido on various occasions."

"The time frame," Conan answered. "Kazuha-san could not have been here for more than a few minutes before the crime was committed."

"She'll have been drugged," Heiji concluded. "If we construct a timeline of the crime - then, either the murderer drugged Kazuha, and then killed Sumire-san, or Sumire-san was already dead when they knocked her out. The latter is more likely."

"Why?" Keisuke asked from his half crouch by the door.

"No signs of struggle," Chiyoko piped up from the wardrobe she'd been inspecting. "If Sumire-nee-san, who was in the room first, had been the second victim, she would've made noise, or attempted to escape, or something, while the murderer was drugging Kazuha-san."

Conan's gaze turned to her almost immediately. She didn't notice, bending over to check the drawers.

"No good," Heiji gritted out through clenched teeth.

"What is?"

"No sign of the murder weapon." He ran a hand through his hair, mussing it thoroughly. " Or Kazuha."

"We're going to need everyone to establish their alibis," Takagi announced, producing a wire-bound notepad from his jacket to the round of protest. "Believe me, it's easier if we don't go through any meaningless back and forth."

"Let's start with us," Chiyoko volunteered. "That should make it easier for my cousins. Oji-sama had to take some business calls, so I was wheeling him up the back to his office, when we heard the scream. We came up the rest of the stairs, to the powder room, and we were trying the door when Hattori-san knocked the door down."

"So you were together the entire time, Chiyoko-san?"

"Yes." Akita-san affirmed with a terse nod.

Conan's gaze lingered on the girl for a second longer.

Takagi flipped the page decisively. "And you, Madoka-kun?"

"I was on my laptop in my room alone," The young man barely looked up from his phone. "But you can check my browser history if you want."

Exasperation flitted briefly into the police detective's face. "His cousin's dead and he's still on his phone?"

Conan ignored Takagi's mumbling. "Henry-san?"

"I was calling a contact in Italy, right up till I came into the sitting room and noticed the jewel was can verify with him, if you'd like."

"Phone records and witnesses can be faked." Heiji crossed his arms. "You were alone too."

Henry didn't deny the fact.

"I'm afraid that I was also alone up until everybody gathered here," Masayuki-san volunteered. "I was organizing the books in the reading room on this floor."

"So no one has a solid alibi except for us and Keisuke-kun," Chiyoko summed up.

"Is there no possibility that perhaps Kid is the murderer?" Akita-san questioned. "After all, the motive seems clear. Killing Sumire-chan would provide ample distraction for him to steal the _Jade Rabbit."_

"We all know Kaitou Kid doesn't kill," Chiyoko said, a bit too firmly. "Ojii-sama."

"That is true," Takagi-keiji launched into some sort of complicated explanation, but Conan was already going over the case notes in his head.

Everyone was hiding something, that much was easy to tell. In a big, upper-class family, this certainly wasn't uncommon, but it did make eliminating the impossible harder. Madoka and Masayuki-san passed inspection, at first glance. They weren't suspicious enough that he was hooked, not quite yet. Not when there was the others.

Keisuke had a solid alibi, but there was his apparent familiarity with Ran and the fact that he had the same bright mischievous eyes as a certain phantom thief. Murder was off the table, perhaps, but the heist? He had also been the last one up the stairs, and could've plausible stolen the _Jade Rabbit_ before Henry had re-entered the room.

Then there was Chiyoko, who was behaving oddly practiced, considering up till today, her job consisted of paperwork and handling small cases at the station. Being Hattori's fan could have explained how she knew what she was doing, but the way she had announced the estimated time of death down to the millisecond was much too practiced to have been emulated.

And lastly, there was Akita-san. Barring the fact that he'd suggested Kaitou Kid to be the murderer - something that could basically be ignored, because Kid wasn't that kind of a criminal - Conan could feel the old man's gaze burning on the back of his head since the beginning of the investigation - since the beginning of the visit to the mansion, even. There was something unsettling about this man. An aura of decay seemed to hang about him, made Conan distinctly uncomfortable.

Someone had to be lying about something.

He held out his arms. Keisuke shrugged, and handed Ran back to him. Until he could be sure who was the murderer, Ran was staying by his side. Her arms around his neck and her weight in his arms was an assurance, and for a brief moment when she glanced up, her eyes seemed suddenly so old and so knowing that his heart jumped.

"What's going on, Conan-nii-chan?" her voice was smaller now, much like it was when she first came to him.

"...Nothing," he said, as much to her as it was to himself. "Nothing at all."

And nothing would happen to her. He would protect her, with his own body, if necessary.

"Akita-san," Conan walked up to the old man in the wheelchair, "Is there any CCTV in this house?"

"Of course. We've strengthened what security we had as well, to prepare for Kaitou Kid's appearance."

"May we see the tapes, then?"

"Chiyoko can show you. I will refrain, as it can be a hassle to go up these stairs." the old man wheeled himself back to allow Conan and Chiyoko to pass.

"Oi, Edogawa."

He stopped at the unfamiliar syllables. Not once so far had he heard that name from that voice. Ran blinked owlishly, staring at the other detective with openly confused eyes.

Heiji had crossed over to the window, pushing it open and staring out at the bushes below. His gaze was unreadable. "We're doing this separately."

"Hattori?"

"Find the murderer. That's what you're good at."

"And you?"

Heiji turned his head. "I'm going to get my wife back."


End file.
